The interview of Professor Samatar with the Somali singer

Never have I felt so much hope and gloom at the same time for Somali music and culture; that wonderful aesthetic product by default of the otherwise harsh Somali pastoral life. Onboard a plane from Minneapolis to Washington DC, I read an interview that Professor Ahmed I. Samater conducted with Maryam Omar Ali, commonly known as Aryette, a woman with a passion for Somali music and literature. The lengthy interview which ran over 20 pages was published in Bildhaan, an International Journal of Somali Studies, which I picked up while attending a Tol Convention in Minneapolis in early April.

With an ear for music since childhood, Maryan explained how she managed to possess a collection of about 9000 audio cassettes of Somali music and Somali plays. Among her collection are the original and finest songs of the celebrated singers such as Magool, Mohamed Suleiman, Omar Dhuule, Zahra Ahmed, Maandeeq, Baxsan, Fadumo Qasim and others as well as some of the memorable plays of the sixties and seventies.

They include Shabeel Nagood and Gaarabildhaan, the two great works of the legendary Hassan Sheikh Muumin. She has also in her possession Galbeed waa la xoreeyey by Hassan Abdillaahi Ganay, Kariye’s Jacaylkii Waalaye Aynu Weeraka aadno and Osman Adan Askari’s Wadhafkiyo Shimbirihii War Iskuma Hayaan of which Maryan herself has authored the script and some of the songs.

Somali Music of Somalia

The country of Somalia has come a long way to recovery. It is said that when the people engages in leisure activities; they must be happy. The people of Somalia have come a long way since the Islamic insurgents banned music.

The civilisation of Islamic State of Somalia is connected with its evergreen melodious inheritance. Somali music that would be once heard in all street corners and nooks of Somalia is now dead. It is alleged that the diverseness of the Soamalian people which generates Somalia its musical refinement and heritage. The nation of Somalia has around 2 cultural groups with assorted languages and culture. The ethnic groups that make Somalia include; the Samaal, which includes the Darod, Isaaq, Hawiye, and the Dir clan groups; and the Saab, that includes the Rahanweyn and Digil clans and other smaller clan groups.

This variety has been helpful in adding the music to the platform to which Somali songs and music stand now. For example, the Pashtuns of Somali has been traditionally affiliated with music that does melodious deeds at sacred and social events.

The music in Somali has also been influenced by the other African neighboring states. The Somali music has been classed in four diverse families mainly; Classical and Somali pop music. The diverse musical instruments employed to produce Somali songs and music gives it the distinct characteristics.

Form Somali Culture online.

How the Somali wedding is done.

For Somali communities, weddings are important communal occasions. Traditionally, Somali wedding festivities last for three entire nights. On these three nights there, is plenty of singing, dancing and celebrating on the part of the bride, groom and their guests. On some of these nights, women and men do not mingle or celebrate together; the men celebrate in one location while the women celebrate in a different site. Among the celebrations held at night, there is a particular festivity called the Gaaf. People close to the wedding couple including those who live in far of places come together to recite and listen poems; riddles and sing throughout the night during the Gaaf celebrations.

In Somali culture, it is customary for the bride, groom and their families to arrange for a lavish feast for their guests at the reception. Different traditional as well as modern types of foods are usually served for the guests to enjoy as they carry on with the festivities. A further important tradition in Somali marriage is the exchanging of gifts. The exchange is normally done between the bride’s family and groom’s family and between the invited guests and the wedding couple. The couple exchange gifts as a sign of appreciation. The invited guests on the other hand normally give gifts to the couples as a means congratulating them. The gifts can be in form of jewelry, money and other types of contributions. Somali couples marrying in Somali or those getting married in countries in the Diaspora like Canada, undergo a Muslim wedding ceremony. The marriage ceremony is normally officiated by an Imam. The Imam usually reads from the Quran and gives the couple blessings from the Quran as well. During a traditional Somalia wedding ceremony, the bride and groom give verbal acceptance of the marriage contract and exchange rings they are supposed to keep for the rest of their lives. The rings are a symbol of their unity.

Soamli culture

Cultural activities primarily consist of poetry, folk dancing, the performance of plays, and singing. These traditional activities still retain their importance, especially in rural areas, and are practiced not only at family and religious celebrations but also at state ceremonies. On such occasions traditional local costume is generally worn.
The varied cultural life of the Somali includes both traditional activities and, especially in the towns, many modern interests.
Cultural activities primarily consist of poetry, folk dancing, the performance of plays, and singing. These traditional activities still retain their importance, especially in rural areas, and are practiced not only at family and religious celebrations but also at state ceremonies. On such occasions traditional local costume is generally worn.
Especially in the towns, traditional culture is rapidly being superseded by imported modern influences, such as television and videotapes, cinema, and bars and restaurants. Urban Somalian cooking has been strongly influenced by Italian cuisine, and young townspeople are much influenced by Western fashion in the way they dress. There are two bands of Somali Jareer in Jilib District Shanbara and Shimama. Others, like Maryam Mursal, have fused Somali traditional music with rock, bossa nova, hip hop, and jazz influences. Most Somali music is love orientated.
Toronto where a sizable Somali community exists replaced Mogadishu (because of the instability) as the centre of the Somali music industry, which is also present in London, Minneapolis, and Columbus. One popular musician from the Somali diaspora is K'naan, a young rapper from Toronto, whose songs talk about the struggles of life in Somalia during the outbreak of the civil war.

The somali singer

The Somali guitarist: Abdi Hassan Mohamed (1950). He is an artist of 68 songs.

Eid Jamac- Somali singer.

This is the somali songs - Ha wareerin ( dont confuse yourself).

You can click below link to direct you to the song.

Farxad Mandela

Origin of Somalis

Identification. Somalia was known to the ancient Egyptians as the Land of Punt. They valued its trees which produced the aromatic gum resins frankincense and myrrh. Punt is also mentioned in the Bible, and ancient Romans called it Cape Aromatica. Somalia is named for the legendary father of the Somali people, Samaal (or Samale).

The Somali people share a common language, Somali, and most are Muslims of the Sunni sect. Somalis also live in northern Kenya; in the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia; and in Djibouti, to the northwest of Somalia. In spite of national boundaries, all Somalis consider themselves one people. This unity makes them one of Africa's largest ethnic groups.

Location and Geography. Somalia is on the outer edge of the Somali Peninsula, also called the Horn of Africa, on the East African coast. It is bordered on the north by the Gulf of Aden, on the east by the Indian Ocean, on the southwest by Kenya, and on the west and northwest by Ethiopia and Djibouti.

At approximately 246,200 square miles (637,658 square kilometers), Somalia is about the size of Texas. Its coastline extends about 1,800 miles (2,896 kilometers). Somalia is hot for much of the year, with two wet and two dry seasons. Vegetation is generally sparse, except in the area between the Jubba and the Shabeelle Rivers in south-central Somalia.

A semiarid plain called the Guban runs parallel to the northern coast of Somalia. The Karkaar Mountains extend from Somalia's northwestern border to the eastern tip of the Horn of Africa, with the highest point, Shimber Berris, at 7,900 feet (2,408 meters). South of the mountain ranges, a central plateau known as the Haud extends to the Shabeelle River and westward into the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia. During the rainy seasons, from April to June and from October to November, this area provides plenty of water and grazing lands for livestock.

Somalia's two rivers, the Jubba and the Shabeelle, flow from the Ethiopian highlands into southeastern Somalia. The Shabeelle (Leopard) River does not enter the Indian Ocean but instead turns parallel to the coast and runs southward for 170 miles (274 kilometers) before drying up in marshes and sand flats. The Jubba flows year-round into the Indian Ocean.

The port city of Mogadishu, in southeastern Somalia on the Indian Ocean, is the largest city and the traditional capital of Somalia. Mogadishu was largely destroyed in the fighting between clans during the civil war of the 1990s. In 2000 a Somali assembly voted to make Mogadishu the new president's base but to move other government functions to the city of Baidoa, northwest of Mogadishu, until the capital could be rebuilt.

Demography. No census was taken in Somalia until 1975, and those figures were not reported. The large number of nomads makes it difficult to get an accurate population count. Population estimates have been made based on the 1986–1987 census, which recorded a population of 7.1 million. In spite of the death toll due to famine and civil war in the 1990s, 2000 population estimates range from 9 million to 14.5 million. About three-quarters of the people live in rural areas and one-quarter in the cities. Ethnic Somalis make up about 95 percent of the population. The remainder are Indians, Pakistanis, other Asians, Arabs, Europeans, and groups of mixed ancestry.

Read more: Culture of Somalia - traditional, history, people, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social, dress, marriage, men, life, tribe, population, religion, rituals, History and ethnic relations http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Somalia.html#ixzz0o7FcHV1X

Oral literature

Kenya's many ethnic groups have a well developed and sophisticated folklore which embodies their history, traditions, mores, world-view and wisdom. Their legends recount the movement of people to and from the rift valley, into the highlands, the grasslands and the lake regions. Famous historical figures such as the Kikuyu Gikuyu and Mumbi or the Luo culture hero Liongo are represented in myths and legends. Myths include accounts of how cattle were given to a certain people by God. The Maasai have this legend, so when they went on cattle raids they were getting back what was rightfully theirs. The Kikuyu also have a similar story. Folk tales try to answer etymological questions, such as why the hyena has a limp and the origin of death. In many Kenyan cultures the message that men would not die was given to a chameleon, but he was so slow that a bird got to man before him and gave them the message that men would die. Folk tales also recount the adventures of tricksters. In Kenya, tricksters are usually the hare or the tortoise. The ogre is another popular, if evil, character in many Kenyan folk tales. The ogre devours whole communities but is eventually vanquished by the actions of a brother and sister. The brother then cuts the toe of the ogre and all the people it ate come out.

Each ethnic group has a large store of riddles, proverbs and sayings, which are still an important aspect of daily speech. Riddles were usually exchanged in the evening before a storytelling session. Riddling sessions are usually competitions between two young people who fictionally bet villages, or cattle, or other items of economic life on the outcome. Many cultures have a prohibition on telling riddles during daylight hours. The Kikuyu had a very elaborate sung riddle game, a duet called the enigma poem or gicandia set text poem of riddles. It is sung in a duet and the players are in a competition. The duet is strikingly different than the normal singing of the Kikuyu performed by a soloist and a chorus. The poem is learned by heart. A decorated gourd rattle accompanies the singing One gicandi may consists of 127 stanzas.

Proverbs are social phenomenon and as such they can be defined as a message coded by tradition and transmitted in order to evaluate and/or effect human behavior. Proverbs reveal key elements of a culture such as the position and influence of women, morality, what is considered appropriate behavior, and the importance of children. For example the Luo have these proverbs: (1) The eye you have treated will look at you contemptuously. (2) A cowardly hyena lives for many years. (3) The swimmer who races alone, praises the winner. Some Kikuyu examples includes: (1) Women and the sky cannot be understood. (2) The man may be the head of the home, but the woman is the heart. (3) Frowning frogs cannot stop the cows drinking from the pool. There are also several proverbs in Swahili and English that have become part of Kenyans' daily life. For example: Haraka Haraka haina baraka (hurry hurry has not blessing) and also, When elephants fight it is the grass that suffers.

The Swahili people on Kenya's coast have had a rich oral tradition that has been influenced by Islam. Stories of genies are told side by side with stories of hare and hyena. There is also a very rich tradition of popular poetry that has been part of Swahili cultural life for over four centuries.

Kenyan radio and television shows use folklore as part of their daily programming. Oral literature is part of the secondary and university syllabus. Part of the requirement in these classes is for students to collect folklore from their parents and grandparents. Kenyans believe that folklore is an important part of their heritage and culture and are taking steps to preserve and encourage folklore and education. While global culture in the shape of movies, music and literature is replacing folklore, Kenyans are actively involved in its maintenance.

By University of Pennsylvania