Unity

He’s known as South Sudan’s “King of Music” at home, but in 2014, Gordon Koang fled the country’s devastating civil war and retreated to Uganda before seeking asylum in Melbourne for his wife and six children. *Unity* is the blind pop singer’s 11th album and his first since settling in Australia. Throughout, he ties together fragments of his life before and after fleeing violence, with messages of love and solidarity told via lyrics performed in English, Arabic, and his native Nuer. It’s an experience addressed directly on the opening track: “My dear asylum seekers, we know you’re waiting for your permanent protection visa, we know you’ve been waiting for a long time…you need to be patient.” As he alternates between languages, the singer—who was finally granted a visa in 2019—delivers his messages of hope and advice with straightforwardness, using his joyous pop melodies to invite listeners to come together. Every song is underscored by Koang’s signature thom, an East African harp built with wood, metal pins, and nylon strings—it’s front and center on “Y Dah,” the upbeat “Mal Mi Goa,” and the celebratory “Stand Up (Clap Your Hands),” in which he speaks directly to his listeners: “Don’t keep quiet, move your body, come up here/We love you, audience.”

Gordon Koang is a fountain of warmth and joy, immediately accepting any stranger who strays into his presence. With a beaming smile that is unfettered by blindness, a condition he has lived with since birth, Gordon welcomes any and all around him, encouraging them to sit for a while and chat, maybe even to share a song. Originating from the Nile Valley in what is now South Sudan, Koang was born blind and began playing music from an early age, busking on the streets of Juba and producing his own self-released CD-R’s and cassettes, before becoming a crowd favourite and recording a series of singles and music videos celebrating South Sudan’s cultural wealth. His music went viral, spreading throughout the country, and Koang was invited to perform at everything from weddings and political rallies to church meetings and parties alike. His reputation quickly grew as the poet and homegrown hero of the Nuer people, sometimes called the ‘Michael Jackson of South Sudan’. In 2013, while Koang was performing to expatriate Nuer communities in Australia, renewed conflict broke out at home. He made a difficult and heartbreaking decision to not return to Sudan, applying to the Australian government for humanitarian protection. After six long years of waiting, living in a foreign country far away from his family, he now proudly calls himself an ‘Australian’, and eagerly awaits the day he will rejoin his wife and children in safety. Unity is, remarkably, Gordon’s eleventh full-length album, and his first since coming to Australia. It is his only recorded output in a painstakingly long six years of living as an asylum seeker, mostly recorded in the last winter months of 2019, when Gordon began performing with local musicians through the Music in Exile label. The album was completed just weeks before Gordon was awarded his permanent residency. He could have had no way of knowing, and yet there is no frustration in the songs, not a shred of impatience or anger - only Gordon’s unending positivity, his love of all people and of the world he has never seen. Gordon Koang 'Unity' out August 14, 2020 through Music in Exile / Light in the Attic (USA) and Cargo Records (UK/EU).

The South Sudanese star reflects and celebrates the liminal life of a refugee on his first album recorded in Australia, where he's lived in asylum from his home country's civil war since 2014.