brass instruments. According to social historian Ahmad Sikainga, "Sudanese members of military bands can be regarded as the first professional musicians, taking the lead in the process of modernization and indigenisation." Today still, such marching bands represent a characteristic element in Sudan, playing the National Anthem on Independence Day and other official celebrations. Development of modern Sudanese music The 1920s: hageeba, the origin of modern popular music in Sudan The strongest stylistic influence in the development of modern popular Sudanese music has become known as hageeba music (pronounced hagee-ba and meaning "briefcase"). The name hageeba, however, was only applied much later to popular songs from the 1920s, when radio presenter Ahmed Mohamed Saleh talked about old records, collected in his briefcase for his show hageebat al-fann (artistic briefcase), that he presented on Radio Omdurman during the 1940s. In terms of the history of music of Sudan, the label hageeba applies to an important change in the development of modern music: A new urban style of singing and lyrics was evolving, moving away from tribal folk songs and the melodies of religious, devotional singing. This style was inaugurated by the singer Muhamad Wad El Faki, as well as others like Muhamad Ahmed Sarour, who were later inspired by Wad El Faki. These songs were initially inspired by the vocal tradition of Islamic praise chanting for the prophet Muhammad, known as madeeh. Gradually, melodies known from madeeh were used by singers like Wad El Faki and others to accompany new, non-religious lyrics. During his childhood years at a religious school, called khalwa in Sudan, Wad El Faki had learned recitation in classical Arabic, voice control and correct pronunciation. According to El Sirr A. Gadour, Wad El Faki "did not belong to any of the main ethnic communities in Omdurman. This freed him from a narrow identity and made him a 'general' singer, crossing the tribal barrier to broader national affiliation." Hageeba started as essentially vocal music, sung by a lead singer and a chorus, with percussion coming from the tambourine-like tar frame drum. It was performed at weddings and other social occasions and soon became popular. – During the 1930s, the first commercial 78 rpm gramophone records of Sudanese musicians such as Muhamad Ahmed Sarour and Khalil Farah were recorded in Cairo and marketed from Omdurman, from where this new music spread to listeners in greater Khartoum and other urban centres. 1930s