Toronto is a city where you can hear live music from just about any part of the world: India, Latin America, Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and Africa. This diverse city was also home to Canada's most popular African band, Tarig Abubakar and the AfroNubians.

The band is "Pan-African", mixing styles from across the continent, including Congolese soukous and rumba, highlife, makossa and reggae. The band's lineup reflects the city's diversity, with members from East, Central, and West Africa, and even a Russian saxophonist.

Abubakar grew up in Madani, Sudan, a place he described as "a village of musicians," which is at the crossroads of African and Arabic culture. A decade ago, Abubakar came to Canada as a refugee. He landed in Montreal's Mirabel Airport with nothing but $10 in his pocket. "My luggage had been lost, I had literally nothing but the clothes on my back." From there, he began walking towards the city. Eventually a group of Haitians offered him a ride and brought him to an African club. There he met some East Africans who helped him buy a train ticket to Toronto. Upon arriving, Abubakar found work at a car wash/parking lot at $35 a day. He saved up money to buy a saxophone, finished high school, and within a few years, he was the band leader of Canada's most popular African group. This man of great optimism produced several CDs and organized countless cross-country North American tours in the course of a decade - all of which spread a message of tolerance and diversity.

Tariq Abubakar was killed in an automobile accident on January 28, 1998 in Khartoum, Sudan, after visiting his mother. It was just his second visit home since emigrating to Toronto Canada more than a decade ago.