He wears a jacket by MAISON MARGIELA.

  • Words Tara Joshi
  • Photos Luke Lovell
  • Styling Tana Grossberg

MUSTAFA

He wears a jacket by MAISON MARGIELA.

A folk troubadour for the digital age. 

Issue 53

, Features

,
  • Words Tara Joshi
  • Photos Luke Lovell
  • Styling Tana Grossberg
  • Production Camp Productions
  • Producer Alicia Zumback
  • Production Designer James Lear
  • Groomer Ghost (Jessica Pudelek)
  • Studio Edge Studios

He wears a hat by NAMACHEKO and a tank top by MARNI.

( 1 ) Mustafa sampled Sudanese musician Abdel Gadir Salim on the track “Imaan" and has cited fellow Canadian folk musicians Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen as inspiring his songwriting.

( 2 ) Regent Park has undergone a $1 billion revitalization project over the last two decades. In May 2024, the last remaining buildings from the original 1940s urban plan were demolished.

Mustafa Ahmed is no stranger to tragedy. Since childhood, the Canadian-Sudanese artist has used his work—be it piercing adolescent spoken-word poetry or plaintive ’hood folk lullabies—to deal with the grief, poverty and systemic injustice he experienced coming of age in the shadow of conflict; whether it’s what his family left behind in Sudan, or what he witnessed growing up in Regent Park, one of the oldest housing projects in Toronto.

( 1 ) Mustafa sampled Sudanese musician Abdel Gadir Salim on the track “Imaan" and has cited fellow Canadian folk musicians Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen as inspiring his songwriting.

( 2 ) Regent Park has undergone a $1 billion revitalization project over the last two decades. In May 2024, the last remaining buildings from the original 1940s urban plan were demolished.

ISSUE 54

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