Born in Sudan and living in Brooklyn, Alsarah is a singer, songwriter, and ethnomusicologist who specializes in East-African retro-pop. She had a nomadic upbringing, first living in Sudan's capital city Khartoum until she was eight, then moving to Yemen to escape the upheaval in her homeland following Omar al-Bashir's 1989 coup. A civil war in Yemen brought her to the U.S. in 1994, where she attended Hadley, Massachusetts' Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter High School and Wesleyan University, where she studied music and ethnomusicology. From there, Alsarah collaborated with acts such as the Nile Project, appearing on their 2013 debut album, Aswan, and French producer Débruit, providing vocals on that year's Aljawal. Also in 2013, she performed with Kombo & AfroSimba Band in Nairobi and at the first music festival in Mogadishu in more than two decades. ~ Heather Phares