By Dr. Mohamed-Rashid Sh. Hassan, Hargeysa, Somaliland

This is the sixtieth article of a series of articles that Dr. Mohamed-Rashid analyses the military coup and its legacy

Oral Literature, Islam and State ...

Art and Literature: The Other Weapon for Resistance

When the military seized power in 1969, most of the poets, singers and musicians “suuggaanley” hastily poured praise on the new regime. They portrayed the new change of government as positive and in the right direction. Since the military regime called their coup a revolution "Kacaan".  Artists endorsed enthusiastically this claim in their various plays, songs etc. They preached that the country was on the right track. Late Abdillahi Qarshe, the man considered as the founder of the Somali music and a radical nationalist, composed the following song in the early years of the regime. "This is the revolution for the people, this is the revolution for land. "Wa Towradii dadka, waa towradii dalka".  Late Abdi Mohamed Amin was another artist who praised the leader of the coup, Siad Barre in the early years of the coup. He composed a song, which starts with the words "always lead the caravan" "Caynaanka hay". Both artists, Qarshe and Amin later regretted composing such songs. In the 1980s, Amin became critical of the regime, and produced several plays and poems before he was imprisoned. He wrote a controversial critical song called “Land-cruiser.” to discredit the regime. In the song "Land-cruiser" he depicted the rich new class with their new vehicles in contrast to the general economic deterioration of the country, in particular the capital. The song was too much for the regime to tolerate; eventually the military regime banned it and the play in which it featured. Abdi Mohamed Amin and Abdillahi Qarshe were well known for their patriotism. During the military regime they lived and experienced two different historical periods and this was what their conflicting artistic production indicates. The regime, being aware of the influence of poets, playwrights, and singers (Suuggaanley) brought all the main artists in the country under its control, similar to what Stalin did in the Soviet Union and Mussolini in Italy. In the capital Mogadishu, there was one big theatre built by the Republic of China in 1960s. A military officer had been the managing director of the theatre in most of the time during the military rule.  The regime’s intention was to make sure that all artistic production was in tune with its political discourse. No narratives were allowed, except those approved by the regime. As a result of this move, the majority of artists, singers, musicians and poets in the country became government employees. They came under the direct control of the Minister of information and National Guidance. 

As the time progressed and the dictatorial rule of Siyad Barre became more apparent, critical songs and plays with complex double meanings appeared in the public domain. A lot of them were underground literature and were only available through underground networks, but some of them were broadcast over the government radios undetected by the security service. In 1974 the celebrated poet and playwright, Mohamed Ibrahim Hadrawi was arrested. He was a teacher in the Afgoye Teachers' College (Lafole) and had written a play together with his colleagues called (Waayeel iyo Wacadd) in a highly metaphorical language intended to depict the military regime's ugly face.

Before the play was staged in the national theatre, it went under the scrutiny of the State Committee for Censorship. Its metaphorical and complex meanings nationalist imagery divided the censorship committee; should they stop it or allow it? The play finally passed and was performed. Its effect and influence were huge.  Hadrawi conveyed very well all what he intended, the beginning of nepotism and dictatorship.  Hadrawi's poetry contributed to an early warning system about the dangers of pseudo-patriotic council member’s intent on obfuscating the genuine political unconscious of the period. Barre saw Hadrawi's poetry as getting too close to the bone. As a result, the poet was sent to a prison in Qansahdhere, a town in the inter-riverine area, where his poetic brilliance would lose its efficacy. Ironically, the incarceration of the poet in Qansahdhere brought to the fore of public consciousness a hitherto suppressed truism.

When Hadrawi was arrested, he was exiled to Qansahdhere. All his poems, songs and plays with a political content were banned, while his songs on other topics such beauty and love remained unaffected. From then Hadrawi’s political productions went underground, but became even more popular.  It was difficult for the military to stop them reaching the public. There were other poets too, such as Gariye, a close friend of Hadrawi,   They worked together at Lafole College, few miles from the capital where they formed an unofficial circle of elite artists, most of them Somalilanders. Siad Barre called them ‘the petty-bourgeoisie Northerners, Somalilanderns’.

Including Hadrawi’s literary work was a polemic poetic series of poems; he initiated putting the Somali tragedy in a historical context. He addressed it to another friend of him, Abdi Qays. At that time, Qays was living in Djibouti to where he had escaped after being labelled anti-revolutionary, "Kacaan diid". Qays answered Hadrawi in an equally dramatic poem. These poems were later developed into series of poetic collection of poems, known as Siinlay. More than thirty other poets, young and old, entered the debate and the contest. This can be described as one of the major literary works in modern Somali history. The poems were highly allegorical and repetitive in content and style. They deviated or departed from the previous premises upon which Somali literature was expressed and communicated, not only in its revolutionary and political tone, but also its scansion and the imagery involved.

Siinlay was followed by another series of poetic songs more or less similar, called Deelay. These artistic productions were regarded as subversive and banned, but this made them even more popular. They were recorded and re-recorded onto cassettes. People listened to them at home and in their cars.

Hadrawi remained in prison for several years. The underground literature, which he largely contributed to, circulated and became a wide spread source of information to Somalis both at home and abroad during the military rule. Hadrawi’s poems and songs were more effective and popular than Siyad Barre’s official speeches, which were daily broadcast on the airwaves by the national radio and TV.

When Hadrawi was released from prison in 1978, he left the country and joined the Somali National Movement (SNM), writing more poems and songs which became an inspiring symbol for all those who opposed the regime, particularly the young fighters in the SNM.  Most of Hadrawi’s poems and songs are recorded in Hal - Karaan. 

The Poems and songs of the Siinlay and Deelay were an important warning and reminder what could happen in the absence of a modern liberal democratic state that guarantees social equality and freedom of expression. They also condemned clanism or clan politics (Qabyaalad).   In the early 1980s, the opposition established a clandestine radio (KULMIS) in Ethiopia where programmes to undermine and discredit the regime were broadcast. For some time, a well-known former BBC Somali section broadcaster, Mustafe Haji Nur was the head of the radio. Mustafa was popular broadcaster while he was working for the BBC, and because of this and his profound analysis of the social and political situation of the country, the radio attracted many listeners. In the country, anyone caught listening to the radio was regarded as guilty and was arrested. The opposition’s messages of resistance were expressed in poems and songs and broadcast on radio KULMIS. Their impact was phenomenal and the regime tried by every means possible to stop these broadcasts. Songs and poems were also recorded in cassettes and tapes and were smuggled into the country. In the Somali oral tradition, poems and songs have been always used as weapons for a cause.    

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