Awale Kullane

March 2004 - All about Abwaan Mohamed Hadrawi

Hello and welcome again to Africa on your street and my new edition all about the music from Somalia.

• Abwaan Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame Hadrawi
• Maryan Mursal
• Abdulkhadir ‘Juba’
• Mohamed Aden Ali
• Mohamed Saleebaan Tubeec
• Maali Promotion
• Abdisalaan Moalim Abdulle ‘Bada Cas’
• Awale Kullane's recommended CDs

Abwaan Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame Hadrawi

London has always been a hot spot for the Somali communities in the Diaspora and in the past couple of months major changes have taken place. The Guru when it comes to writing Somali songs is Abwaan Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame Hadrawi . The word ‘Abwaan’ or ‘Laashin’ is a title and roughly translated it’s a director, a play writer, a song writer and a poet all in one. Hadrawi has visited London in a tour for peace. He had just toured in Somalia starting from Hargeysa - the most peaceful city in East Africa- through to Mogadishu, visiting 16 of the 18 Somali regions.

Hadrawi has written the most trendy songs in Somalia and worked with the most popular artists. He has written songs such as Baladweyn sung by Hassan Aden Samater in 1974 (‘Waa soo socdaa kow dheh’) and Saxarlaay ha fududaan sung by the late great Mahamed Mooge. He has also written ‘Jacayl dhiig ma lagu qoraa?’ which roughly translated means ‘Do you write love in blood?’  It was sung by Halima Khaliif Magool, and there are also rumours that Magool received a letter written in blood at the time. (We will dwell on this at a later date.)

Hadrawi has written dozens of plays and volumes of poems. One of the elders in London who was hosting an event in London gave Hadrawi a name: he called him the Somali Shakespeare. However, Mr. Martin Owen a lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London - an Englishman who teaches the Somali language - rephrased the term and said Shakespeare is the Hadrawi of Britain. Hadrawi was also welcomed by musician Ahmed ‘Hudeydi’ Ismail Hussein and by Mahamud Abdulahi Isse Sangub , another heavyweight in the Somali Arts. Sangub was the director, actor and writer of Qabyo 1 and Qabyo II the two most famous Somali movie sequels.

The past few months have been a life-changing experience. One evening in London’s Iman restaurant we were about 50 people all managing to listen to Hadrawi and his four poet disciples. The poets gave us poems taking us from ignorance to knowledge, from pain to pleasure, from traditional laws to the current lawlessness, from Africa to Europe, from camels to cars, from swords to machine guns, from schools to militias, from waste to environment, from harmony to war, from war to havoc, from rich to poor, from dignity to despair, from despair to hope from hope to action and from Europe to Africa.

Maryan Mursal

The great singer Maryan Mursal is looking into moving to London. Maryan had a wonderful gig in London last month and she is on fire. At the gig Maryan gave us the opportunity to listen to a track from her coming album. Maryan is trying to mix Somali traditional songs with hip hop. Well, it has been done before very well by Munye on his album ‘Bac Madow’ , as we all know the track ‘Jiijo’ . Before that we had Guul Band in the mid 90’s based in Canada, with a member based in London who is not very active in the world of music at the moment, but nevertheless very active in political and social circles. Therefore what is so different about this rap and hip hop style of Maryan? It is because she’s a veteran in all areas of Somali songs, a star of Somali traditional song who also has a clear understanding to how to appeal to the younger generation. That’s why her performance last month was breathtaking. She surprised people with the hip hop beat, and her trademark phrase 'Shuba hada' is so Maryan and so empowering. I have high respect for Munye, but he has competition now, and we will just have to see how it goes.

Abdulkhadir ‘Juba’

Also a big hit as usual was Abdulkhadir ‘Juba’ in his performances at London’s Stratford Rex in January. However he appears to be very shy and never appears on talk shows and interviews. STN, the first Somali TV in the West, is attempting to serve the under-served Somali community and they are looking into working with young organizations like the production company Waryaa entertainment to secure a set of programmes to appeal to the youth in the west.

Mohamed Aden Ali

We have young and upcoming musicians like Mohamed Aden Ali and his album 'Himilo'. Get it before it sells out – it’s a great album. 'Shukansi Paltalk' is another brilliant album by Mohi because the music and production is done by Shegoband and by now we are used to their perfectionist approach delivering some unique Somali music in a great style. The music from the Barawin community in the south of Somalia had been under represented and hard to reach. Now it's available in all music shops thanks to Shegoband.  It shows that we the Somali community have many rich colours and untapped societies, with great skills and talents.

Mohamed Saleebaan Tubeec

There is one album above the rest and will always remain that for me: that’s Nasteexo, by the great singer Mohamed Saleebaan Tubeec . The instrumental music is by Abdisalaan Jimmy.  It’s therapeutic, it’s romantic, it’s powerful and it’s a masterpiece. If this doesn’t go through you, you are not human. I rest my case.

The king Mr. Tubeec is coming to London to perform at the Stratford Rex on 10 April 2004. Guess who is with Mr Tubeec: it’s King Khalid , a newcomer and going fast, based in west London. He’s got a great song ‘way way way haa haa haa’ or simply ‘waw’, and a new album coming up.  We have a lot to look forward to.

Maali Promotion

Well well well the combinations are getting better and bigger. Maali promotion, I take my hat off for you: on 2 April 2004 Abdulkadir Kaskey will be accompanied by Abdihakim Isse Geedi (‘Fara yare’), Nimco Yasin, Abdisalaan Moalim Abdule (‘Bada Cas’), Abdinur Saalax (‘Jazz’) and  Amina Sindiko at the Citizens Nite Club in South London. Maali Promotion, one question: how did you manage to get such group together? It’s a question that will be asked for a long time. I am sorry, I am a Londoner and it doesn’t get any more local then this, with a heavy man like Abdulkadir Abuukar Kaskey, a long-time star based still based in Somalia, playing with Abdihakim Isse Geedi based in West London. He is a keyboard player known as ‘Fara yare’ or small fingers. I call him Mr. Reliable:  he will never let you down and always has a surprise up his sleeve. Abdihakim has been hand-holding Somali musicians in London for a long time:  he was there through thick and thin.

Abdisalaan Moalim Abdulle ‘Bada Cas’

Another key person is Abdisalaan Moalim Abdulle ‘Bada Cas’ based in East London. Now I don’t know why every song you hear in mini-cabs in the summer is Bada Cas (‘The Red Sea’): it’s a phenomenon for the experts to find out why. Abdisalaan is one of the old school in Waberi, and part of the young in London. I don’t know how he does it but he keeps on looking younger. However Bada Cas alone will attract crowds.

Now for the great ladies in the group:  Nimco Yasin is the most well-known person. If Somali music was the England team Nimco would have been Beckham. Nimco Yasin has a controlled, highly skilled and wonderful voice - it would be a challenge to find any Somali who doesn’t like a song belonging to Nimco Yasin. As for Amina Sindiko - well she has a talent and she is very young, I have seen her sing many times and she only gets better and better.

What a fantastic gig - hope to see you there!

Awale Kullane's recommended CDs

Mohamed Aden Ali - 'Himilo'

Mohi (Shegoband) – ‘Shukansi Paltalk’

Mohammed Saleebaan Tubeec - 'Nasteexo'

King Khalid – 'Axeeya'

Check out my recommended CDs this month in the CD Reviews section or go to Music Search to look at our archive of recommended CDs.