I've heard that Khadra Daahir is seriously ill but I couldn't verify it. If that's the case, I wish her a speedy recovery and, in all cases, all the very best.
This is, by far, not KD's best tape but the others I have are so distorted that they sound quite Martian, musically and linguistically. I understand celestial tongues and tunes as I come form Jupiter, but you Earthlings would be lost. Moreover, the lyrics on this one are very significant as they're all about love, mutual respect, tolerance...
This post is dedicated to all consenting adults whose love life is judged, misprised and even threatened by pontificating herds whose common sense is blinded by outdated interpretation of traditions, religions, borders, materialism etc. Love is ALWAYS right!
This is the soundtrack of Damac Adduun ("Petty Worldly Greed"), a play by the '80s theater troupe Libaaxyada Maaweeliska Banaadir. It's fustigating all too familiar and destructive gaping shortcomings humanity has to endure on daily basis. How sad and ironic that an unconscionable, hubristic monster constituting a motherlode of characteristic deficits has just been put at the helm of the most powerful and influential country in the world. It's a long shot, but this petition, already signed by almost 4.5 million people, is one of the many efforts to resist.
The sound quality of the more than 30-years-old tape is deficient, but the lyrics compensate amply. Use the track titles as a guideline.
Faadumo Qaasim sadly passed away in 2011 after a glorious, socially engaged artistic career spanning five decades. RIP! This tape was reissued in 1992 with 2 additional songs, namely track 5 and 10.
01. Qays & Layla [Romeo & Juliet]
02. Dalka Nuuriyow ("The Light of the Land")
03. Maalin Walbaan Kuu Marqaamaye ("I'm Permanently Intoxicated With You")
04. Qaanso Roobaad ("Rainbow")
05. Dalkeygow! (Oh My Land!)*
10 Adeeg Yaan Oogu Diraa? ("Who To Send On An Errand (To Reunite Me with My Exiled Lover]?")*
This is the soundtrack of a tragicomedy of the same name. Sometime in the '80s we're partying at Taleex hotel in Mogadishu. When this record started, almost everybody jumped up to dance the new rage kabxadro, a merge of the traditional butt-wiggling dance/music genre kabeebey and psychedelic Sufi mystical dance xadro. Unable to resist the stompy frenzy, the floor decided to join the merriment and ... collapsed! - coincidentally, track 4 is also known as Gariiree ("I'm Quaking"). Miraculously, no one was badly injured! Anybody who was there, please get in touch.
The rather offbeat title of this album translates to "We Enjoy/Dance to God's Grace" and all the 9 tracks are glorifying or lamenting many shades of un/requited... secular love. If the warlords, from al-shabaab to the CIA et al, possessed half the senses and wits that sinking floor had, they'd shake their fat asses and fucked up brains to any beats of their choice. In which happy case they'd, at worst, only break their bricks and bones... and most definitely get much closer to whatever (transcendental) El Dorado they're seeking than they ever will through the barrels of their weapons, from simple rifles to high-tech drones. Fingers crossed!
Founded in 1954, the theatre troupe Walaalaha Hargeysa (Siblings of Hargeysa) was nationalized and renamed Waaberi Hargeysa (Hargeysa's Dawn) following the military putsch in 1969. They were based in Hargeysa, the 2nd largest city in Somalia and currently the capital of the secessionist Somaliland. They're somewhat obscured by their Mogadishan other half of the twins that had at their disposal hundreds of artists and, thus, a massive repertoire. Nevertheless, WH had to their credit scores of plays and were widely popular all over Somalia and in the neighbouring countries. All the songs here belong to plays from the '70s and '80s performed live mainly by deeply loved, highly respected, widely venerated... female vocalists and actresses.
In this day and age, Somali women's rights are regularly violated by tribal and religious socio-psychopath(et)ic warlords and ordinary criminal thugs. In this light or glaring obscurity, I'd like to salute Aman Radio, the first all-female radio station in Mogadishu which celebrated its first anniversary on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Ladies and... ladies, congratulations for this pressing and heroine-ic initiative and many happier returns!
A few guests mailed a request for more music by the theater troupe Libaaxyada Maaweeliska Banaadir (Banaadir Entertainment Lions). I've some of their tapes but the sound quality of most of the 25- to 35-year-old songs is, unfortunately, no longer apt for human consumption. LMB's traditional repertoire is as big and varied as its modern stock and it's a real pity almost all the traditional acoustic tracks are on a silence strike. Understandable as they, apparently, got fed up with being constantly listened to. Who knows, they may have decided to turn the tables on the inter-galactic spies by eavesdropping on the unconscionable universal tappers.
Cabdi Cabdullaahi Maxamed ("Shiikh Cabdi") sadly passed away a few weeks ago in Denmark, where he's been ill for sometime. He started his career with the band Malkad in Mogadishu in 1973. After a short stint with Bakaaka in Kismaayo, a port city in the South of Somalia, he joined Iftin in 1977 and played on many of their albums till the onset of the civil war in Mogadishu in 1991. With the death of Shiikh Cabdi, Somali music has lost a self-taught, talented, versatile, innovative and intuitive guitarist and a warm, engaging and friendly personality. A.U.N../R.I.P.!
I can't manage to find the time to compile the mixtape I sort of promised here ages ago and time will be in even much shorter supply in the near future. As an attempt to redeem the 'debt', I share as is a mid-eighties cassette by Libaaxyada Maaweeliska Banaadir (Banaadir Entertainment Lions).
LMB was a popular theater troupe founded in the late 70s/early 80s by a group of veteran artists and fledgeling talents. The project was intended to integrate young and old, tradition and modernity - a sort of Scorsese/Levin's "Godfathers and Sons" avant la lettre... but here with the godmothers, daughters and grandchildren, too. Besides entertainment, LMB's main goal revolved around the preservation and dissemination of the performng arts heritage of Banaadir, the region comprising Mogadishu and its immediate surroundings. In their alas ephemeral existence, they produced about a dozen plays which were highly appreciated nationwide.
Content
This tape carries the soundtrack of the mid-80s play Xiddigtii Is Xujeysay ("The Self-Denouncing Star"). In that period, drama productions were staged in theaters and open stadia, and spread on VHS. The play/film scores were, however, rarely released apart on tape. Given the sonic flaws, this k7 is probably a bootleg recorded live outdoors by an audience member - Somalia's nr.1 hobby at the time... so to speak
Engaged Tragicomedy
The play was written by Faynuus Sheekh Daahir (right), a renowned theater actress and folk dancer. To the best of my knowledge, this is her only play. Nevertheless, if the material on this tape is anything to go by, she is apparently equally proficient in spinning poetic lyrics (and thought-provoking dialogues). Besides the title of the play, some tracks gladly betray the burlesque tragicomedy tackled a number of socio-political issues as well. Songs like Naga Tag! Kac! Hooyaa? ("Get Lost! Rise Up! Got It?") ), Abidkaay Ammaan Ma Sheegin ("I Never Dish Out [Unjustified] Praise Words") etc. must have flagellated the dictatorial heartbeat into higher and haunted spheres ...
Vocalists
All the tracks are sung or poetically recited by Axmed Naaji Sacad, Maxamed Cabdow Saalim and mainly Faadumo Qaasim, a socio-politically and artistically brightly shining star since the 60s who sadly passed away last year. R.I.P !
Music
For each play LMB toured with a different ensemble, almost always consisting of traditional and modern instrumentalists. The musical direction of this piece was in the hands of the aforementioned multitalented Axmed Naaji Sacad whose great 70s band Shareero is playing the lead role.
The modern instruments are up front and I, for one, would be contented with less Hohner organ and more roars by the local instruments. The music and singing are, however, often based on the notes of time-honoured traditional poetry, dance and music genres. In addition to the readily recognizable modern instruments, anyone who is familiar with Somali culture will also frequently detect in this tape and get tingled - from head to heels - by an impressive array of currently neglected traditional instruments.
Although sparsely used and often overwhelmed by the electric instruments, some local lions are still holding their own. Particularly the reeme (roaring drum), shagal (metal hoe-blades), shunuuf (vegetable ankle rattles), shambal (wooden clappers), malkad (flute) and sumaari (double clarinet) casually manage to swing to the forefront. These precious and endangered instruments are setting the pace by generating distinct rhythms and melodies (see genres under the tracks) to send a call to a group of colourfully clad folk dancers who respond with graciously intoxicating and sinuously serpentine movements... gently enticing the spectators (occasionally including yours truly) to the dance floor.
- Vocalists and instrumentalists exchange compliments while subtly emphasizing that gratuitous praise of the undeserving is nothing but self-deprecation
- Genre: Sharax, Saylici
- Leaves no room for the imagination: The gun and mortar salvos, funeral processions, public rage... were in mid-80s Somalia not yet pervasive but they're already an essential and gruesome part of the tyrannical policies and resisting histrionics
- Genre: Geblo shimbir
- Disappointment in and fury towards the clique that usurps the key to your love/life/rights and a complaint about the chief and his entourage who are greedy, pompous, unreasonable, unjust... and don't listen to the wise elders
- Genre: Kabeebey - Video
- United we stand! The lovebirds are tired of waiting for the blessing of the self-appointed chargés d'affaires and take matters into their own hands
- Genre: Niiko
08. Waa Habeenkii Dhalashadaadee ("It's Your Birthnight")
- Those who are made for each other (lovers, people and their sovereignty...) always find each other. The two halves become One, no matter how long it takes
- Genre: Hirwo
P.S. I'm not an expert and it's quite possible that my recognition of the multitude of Somali genres is, in some cases, off beat. Many genres resemble each other and some are as deceptively similar as identical twins. Moreover, besides the traditional instruments I mentioned, I recognize others one can hear after careful listening. But I'm quite sure I miss a few others. For example, I can't remember/find the name of the fantastic balafon/vibraphone on mainly tracks 7 and 9. I'd appreciate any corrections and additional info.
PPS. I've the impression a couple of tracks are missing. Anyone?
