‘South Sudan is one long poem’: the music that shaped a nation – photo essay

As the country marks a decade since independence, musicians talk of the songs and rhythms that help create a shared culture and community for people displaced by civil war

What comes first is a culture and then a nation," says David Otim, a musician from Bahr el Ghazal, who performs and teaches South Sudanese songs. Our [civil] war, which was caused by a foreigner, led us to not understand ourselves, made us go and destroy our culture out there [in refugee camps]."