Elle Mannion | September 3, 2025 Mustafa maintains hope in dark times. For this Tiny Desk, the Sudanese Canadian artist features material from Dunya, one of the best albums of 2024, plus “Stay Alive,” an earlier song of his that he says became “the thesis of everything that I believe in.”
A talented poet and songwriter, Mustafa has written for stars like Justin Bieber and The Weeknd — but as you see here, his artistry shines most when he sings heart-wrenchingly beautiful songs about his community. “I was born and raised in the largest housing project in North America,” he tells us. The depth of his emotions are palpable here: joy as he playfully interacts with a Sudanese choir assembled for this performance, pain as his soft voice pleads over oud, guitar and cello, and devotion as he sings about his faith. Dylan Wiggins, a producer for Dunya, helped with these Tiny Desk arrangements.
On the Desk, you'll see a variety of objects that celebrate his Sudanese heritage, but also a press vest — the kind used by journalists reporting in combat zones. In Toronto, the police would call into venues and recommend canceling Mustafa's early shows, citing "safety risks." That's when Mustafa began to contrast the white of his thawb with the bulletproof material of a press vest emblazoned with the word POET. “When I’m asking my boys to stay alive,” he says, “I’m asking that, when they return from a war, they don’t lose what makes them soft and they don’t lose what makes them tender. And that, to me, is a radical act.”
SET LIST “Name of God” “I'll Go Anywhere” “Stay Alive” “What Happened, Mohamed?”
MUSICIANS Mustafa: vocals Fletcher Milloy: guitar, background vocals Yunus Iyriboz: oud, guitar Wesley Hornpetrie: cello SAFA: background vocals Dua Kheiry: background vocals Nadine El Roubi: background vocals Batool Ibrahim: background vocals Bousaina Ibrahim: background vocals
TINY DESK TEAM Producer: Elle Mannion Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Kara Frame Audio Engineer: Hannah Gluvna Audio Mix: Maggie Luthar Production Assistant: Dhanika Pineda Photographer: Grace Raver Series Editor: Lars Gotrich Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton
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