Somaliland Music Past and Present

Music and songs are probably the most emotionally potent forms of human expression. Music conveys intense feelings beyond the power of words and lines, after the printed word has failed. With the introduction of radio, cassette, internet, CD's and recordings, came the chance to communicate words and music to a much wider audience; but the potential of the media to stimulate and enlighten the public has largely been ignored and music has tended to become just another commodity.

As cassettes, CD's and videos of imported music are sold in increasing numbers to the young and fashion conscious. Somali music seems to be stagnating after almost twenty years of war and destruction. The property is not the only thing that is destroyed as a wise man once said; people too are destroyed. So it is no surprise that too many Somali performers especially singers in the Diaspora who stayed in Southern Somali too long are content with repeating the same old songs year after year, or else, passively imitate foreign techno-music and the video force of the west that serve commerce rather than ideals.

Somali cassette and CD shops are springing up all over the world. From Addis-Ababa to Toronto Canada, from Hargeisa, Dubai, Jeddah to East London, businessmen are doing brisk business. Unfortunately these shops sell tapes copied without the artist's permission and are depriving old timers, such as Faisel Omer Mushtiig, who is stuck in Hargeysa and has nowhere to go, from the income they could otherwise expect from royalties. Faisel says in an interview "You know, in the old days whenever they played my music in the BBC Somali language section, I used to get a check through the bank the very next week for playing my music. Now, they have shops specializing in tapes who play my music day and night and make a high profit, while I struggle to survive in Hargeisa without any income from my own creation." The owners of these shops, Faisel adds, are "interested in sales and profits rather than helping the creators of the music. Also, they are not interested in broadening listener's cultural and aesthetic horizons. Little or no attention is paid to the quality of the music, and even less to the quality of the recording." Faisel believes that in order for the artists to survive in this business, three basic things have to be done:

A law that protects copy-rights of the musicians.
Musicians’ cooperation.
Rebuild the National Theatre in Hargeisa.

Can Faisle's suggestions do the job better? But before we can answer that question fully, let us look at the history of contemporary music.

To be continued...

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