But that painful childhood isn't preventing Jal, who believes he is around 30 years old, from trying to bring peace to others. For his new video, We Want Peace, he has enlisted an army of stars, from Alicia Keys to former president Jimmy Carter, to spotlight the Sunday referendum that could see his native southern Sudan gain independence from the north.
"My part of the country has a lot of oil, and the north may not let us go so easily," says Jal. "If things go bad, it will be important for people to be watching. You know how George Clooney and others made people keep an eye on Darfur? It's the same with this. And if you shine a light, evil can do less."
Jal was busy working on his fourth studio album, See Me Mama (due this spring), when nagging concerns over the coming vote caused him to write Peace.
The project gathered steam quickly after Jal got a friend, filmmaker Anna Gabriel, to shoot the video. She informed her father, musician Peter Gabriel, of the project. As a member of The Elders, a Nelson Mandela-led group of notables, Peter got the participation of Carter and former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and composed strings for the song.
"I've been horrified at the reports of the potential for civil war in Sudan after the election," says Gabriel. "Emmanuel is an inspiring and charismatic young musician. Since most fighting in (Sudan's) wars is actually carried out by young people, I believe his impassioned campaign for peace would be much more likely to reach them."
