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Sudanese Industrial Sound: Sonic Labour in a Truck Workshop

The experimental video explores the relationship between manual labour, sound and rhythm among Sudanese lorry-blacksmiths who are specialised in modifying the English Bedford truck. The master craftsman Abd al-Ghani and his crew sometimes create rhythms by hammering specific patterns of beats to animate and cheer them in their forging. During a collaborative ethnographic research project, Abd al-Ghani said: “The rhythm we create with the hammer is like music for us. You hear it like music in your heart and it gives you enthusiasm for the work.” It is the created rhythm that supports control of and immersion into work and keeps up the workflow. Sonic labour is a playful rhythmisation that provides both enthusiasm for arduous work and steady bodily movement and concerted coordination. In the short video, different types and episodes of ‘musical’ forging in Abd al-Ghani’s workshop are mixed and remixed into a web of Sudanese industrial sound.