The Father of Somali Music - Abdullahi Qarshe

Saalax · December 3, 2009

Abdullahi Qarshe (Somali: Cabdullahi Kharshee, Arabic: عبد الله خارسهي‎) (1924 - 1994) was a Somali musician, poet and playwright known as the "Father of Somali music".

Biography

Qarshe was born in 1924 in the Somali expatriate community in Moshi, Tanzania. In 1931, at the behest of his family, he left Tanzania and settled in Aden, Yemen for his education. It is in Aden where Abdullahi had his first encounter with cinema and radio playing western films and Indian and Arabic music, which inspired him to buy a lute to accomplish his new goal of creating music in the Somali language.

Qarshe was the inception of the modern Somali music, and the first generation were Ali Feiruz, Mohamed Nahari and others.

An innovative musician, Qarshe often employed a wide variety of instruments in his art, such as the guitar, piano, and oud. He was also known for his poems and his theatrical work at Mogadishu and Hargeisa venues.

In addition, Qarshe was a member of the pioneering Somali musical ensemble Waaberi.

Waaberi

As Somalia's foremost musical group, Waaberi spawned many popular artists who would go on to enjoy successful individual careers and shape the face of Somali music for years to come. Prominent members of the band included

Abdullahi Qarshe

Ali Feiruz

Fadumo Qasim Hilowle

Hasan Adan Samatar

Hibo Nuura

Hussein Aw Farah

Magool

Maryam Mursal

Mohamed Aden Da'ar

Mohamed Suleiman Tube

Omar Dhule Ali

Saado Ali

Salaad Darbi

Salaad Maxamed Sahardi

Seinab Haji Ali Bahsan

Abdikavy Abdullahi Botan

Kinsi Haji Aden

History

The first major form of modern Somali music began in the mid-1930s, when northern Somalia was a part of the British Somaliland Protectorate. This style of music was known as Xer-Dhaanto, an innovative, urban form of Somali folk dance and song. This period also saw the rise of the Xaaji Baal Baal Dance Troupe, which became very influential over the course of its long career.

Somali popular music began with the balwo style, which was created by Abdi Sinimo. This style began in Dilla, and then spread throughout the area. It was a mixture of modern poetry and Somali dance music.

Cabdillahi Qarshe rose to fame in the early 1940s as part of the qaraami style. Many qarami songs from this era are still extremely popular today. This musical style is mostly played on the kaban (oud). The first somali kaban players were: Ali Feiruz, Mohamed Nahari, and others in 1950s.

During the Siad Barre regime, music was suppressed except for a small amount of officially-sanctioned music. There were many protest songs produced during this period.

Interview with the late Abdullahi Qarshe

(1994) at the Residence of Obliqe Carton

in Djibouti

Mohamed-Rashid Sheikh Hassan

mrsh: Let us start with the basics. When and where were you born?

aq: I was born in Moshe, Tanzania, in 1924.

mrsh: People know you as Abdullahi Qarshe, but what is your real

name?

aq: Oh, yes, that is true. My real name is Mahmud Muhammad, and

Qarshe was the nickname of my father. He was a businessman and

trader in the livestock business in East Africa. He was regarded as a

frugal man and was fortunate in business. We were five brothers and

one sister. We lived in a big house on the outskirts of Moshe.

mrsh: Tell us more about the background of your family and the reason

your father moved to Tanzania.

aq: My father emigrated from Sanaag region in what was at that time

called British Somaliland. In those days, emigration (tacabbir) was popular.

Men used to travel for work and a better life, but it was not an

easy task. Those who emigrated to East Africa, my father included,

went through southern Somalia first of all, then proceeded to Tanzania.

They had to travel by road or foot through harsh and unfriendly

territories. Some of the migrants died along the way, and my father

was one of the fortunate who survived.

In the Sanaag region, my father’s family lived in the Maydh district.

They were involved in the fish industry and the exportation of livestock

and animal hides, as well as timber, to the Gulf countries. My

family was also a religious one, as they were the “keepers of the

shrine” of Shaykh Ishaaq.

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mrsh: So your family were the muruud (keepers) of the shrine. Likewise,

I come from a muruud family and I am familiar with the system.

aq: Yes, we were the muruud of Shaykh Ishaaq, therefore we were very

well respected because of this role and position. With regard to Tanzania,

my father died in 1931. My mother refused to marry my father’s

brother, who lived in Tanzania with us, so she sold all the family property

so we could move back to Somaliland. First of all, we arrived at

Aden, Yemen, and remained there for some time. Then we traveled by

boat to Maydh, then from there by road to Cerigavo. We lived there for

two years, then we returned to Aden, which eventually became our

permanent home.

mrsh: What was your first engagement, meaning did you follow your

father’s footsteps and enter business or did you go to school?

aq: My first engagement was to study the Quran. While we were in

Tanzania, there was a Quranic teacher who gave me private lessons in

Quranic studies at home. During the two years that we were in Cerigavo,

I was sent to a madrasah (Quranic school). Apart from the Quran,

I also had my first experience with Arabic language there.

When we settled in Aden, I entered a madrasah that was established

by the Somali community. I was not really interested in continuing my

Quranic studies, but my mother shuttled me to many madrasahs to reignite

my interest somehow. I do not understand why I was bored,

because I was not only a good student but a popular one as well. I even

became a classroom assistant (kabiir). Another of my father’s brothers,

who resided in Aden, married my mother and thus became our

guardian. He was a very good man who commanded the respect of all

the Somalis of Aden. I believe this was related to the title of muruud

inherited from my father.

After I lost interest in religious studies, I was attracted to the secular

British schools in Aden. I requested that my uncle take me to one of

these schools one day. However, when this day arrived, we left the

house and walked some distance, but I felt that my uncle had other

plans. On our way, various friends of his offered him a ride but he

refused, saying that we were not going far. Suddenly, he stopped and

faced me, and said, “Abdullahi, I really want you to study religion and

I do not approve of you going to the British schools. If anything happens

to me, then you will be my successor. This is what I wanted to tell

you along the way today.” Then I replied, “Why did it take so long for

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you to tell me this?” Thus, I respected his wishes and entered a

madrasah where I finished the thirty parts of the Quran.

mrsh: So you read the whole of the Quran? Amazing! This is the first

time that I became aware that Abdullahi Qarshe, the composer and

musician, read the whole of the Quran!

aq: Indeed, not only did I read the whole Quran, but I also studied

Arabic grammar, fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), and other Islamic subjects,

as I was supposed to be heir to my uncle, the head of our muruud

family. One day, my elder brother called to advise me that my previous

conviction to go to school was better for me than following the

muruud way. I went to a British school for a while, particularly night

school. However, again I became completely bored with formal learning

and I became more enticed by music. So instead of spending my

time on learning and schooling, I spent many hours watching Indian

movies, primarily to listen to accompanying Indian songs.

mrsh: Was that, then, the beginning of your career/interest in music,

or what Somalis more generally call fenn?

aq: Yes. Also, my interest in music came about because of another

event. During the Second World War, the British authorities in Aden

established a radio station. Among the foreign languages broadcast

were Hindi, Arabic, and Somali, which were given half an hour airtime.

Both the Hindi and Arabic programs included music, but the

Somali broadcast did not. A newsreader called Mahdi Eleeye read the

news that was followed by classical Somali poetry (gabay) and took the

remainder of the time. When Arabs visited Somali cafes, they would

ask them, “Don’t you have your own music?” As I said earlier, my

taste for music was first inspired by Indian music, and later I realized

that broadcasters in the Arabic department were also using some

aspects of Indian music and incorporating it into their melodies.

Hence, I thought of doing the same, but at that stage I could not play

any instrument. As far as singing was concerned, I used to sing religious

songs at some gatherings, so I knew that if I could play the lute, I

could sing along with it. One day, I saw a man in the market selling a

lute and I wanted to buy it. Once I acquired the money for one, I

approached the seller and out of the corner of my eye noticed another

young man who also coveted the instrument. I pleaded with him to let

me buy it. He was kind enough to do so and, thus, I took immediate

possession. Now, where could I put this lute? I could not take it home

since having one, according to my family, was tantamount to blas-

Mohamed-Rashid Sheikh Hassan

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phemy! An idea came to mind: I put it in a box and approached a family

friend and told him to pretend that it belonged to him. This was so

that he could leave it in my home, and if anyone discovered the lute,

then I could not be blamed. This friend did exactly this. Then, when

the time for my departure to Somaliland came, he collected the box

and brought it to me at the port before I embarked on my journey to

Hargeisa.

mrsh: So what followed?

aq: I arrived in Hargeisa and stayed with a family friend called Mahmud

Abdi Arale. Abdi Sinimo’s belwo was already making an impact

on the urban population. However, there were only a few musicians

and they were either Arabs or Indians inspired by the new Somali

genre of the belwo. There were two main characters: Ina Beenaale, an

Indian, and Abdo Yusuf, a Yemeni. They played basic instruments, the

most important being the violin. They invited me to join them, so I did,

but I was not yet really proficient in playing. We tried to create softer

lyrics than classical Somali poetry and accompany it with music. In the

beginning, it was not easy, and our band consisted of a mixture of

clapping, the tambourine, and drumming. For instance, we wanted to

inject some music into Elmi Bowdheri’s famous love poetry, and formulate

songs. Where the alliteration was not feasible, we added Arabic

or Hindi lyrics. At this stage, I wanted to earn some money and make

use of the educational skills I acquired in Aden. Thus, I applied for a

clerical post in the British colonial administration and succeeded. As a

result, I was transferred first to Burao and then later to Berbera. It was

in Berbera that I started to focus more on practicing my lute, after I met

an elderly man named Bakri whom I asked to teach me the basics of

the instrument. We agreed that he would teach me in exchange for a

daily portion of khat. Ina Beenaale and Abdo Yusuf were not willing to

do the same. I suppose they were afraid that I would steal the limelight

from them, since I was the first would-be Somali musician and composer.

mrsh: What was the first piece of music that you composed?

aq: At this stage, I was not in a position to write music, so I used the

melodies of old songs. However, the first composition I wrote was for

the song “Ka Kacay! Ka Kacay!” (Wake up! Wake up!). This was 1948.

mrsh: This must have been a crucial period of the mobilization for

independence in Somaliland, when the territory entered a new phase

of national consciousness.

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aq: You’re right. There was the wind of change of nationalism, which

as a political force inspired many people, including the educated few.

Political organizations, such as the Somali National Society (SNS) and

the Somali Youth League (SYL), were formed and were popular. The

SNS established branches in the main towns of the protectorate, such

as Hargeisa, Burao, Borama, Erigavo. It started as a welfare organization

and later developed into a political party, the Somali National

League (SNL). At this time, the belwo became very popular, to such an

extent that the religious establishment became very nervous about it.

For instance, one night we were practicing and playing songs in a private

house in the Zakata Lire quarter of Hargeisa. When dawn broke, a

well-known religious personality called Shaykh Ali Jawhar made the

call to prayer and followed it with a warning directed at us to stop

these “songs of innovation,” as he called them. When this story

entered the city, the public’s disgust with us grew even more. They

changed the term Belwo into Balaayo (evil).

mrsh: Were there not any sympathetic groups?

aq: Some of the more educated appreciated the fact that the belwo itself

had developed Somali literature and art in general. Among them was

Yusuf Haji Aden, a teacher who had already contributed several

nationalist songs. He suggested the change of the term Belwo to Heello,

so as to rid it of the evil stigma. Yusuf Ismail Samatar, another teacher,

supported our cause.

During this time, the former District Commissioner of the National

Frontier District (NFD), Mr. Reece (also known as “Kamakama” by the

Somalis), was transferred to Somaliland. His arrival coincided with the

building of the first churches in Hargeisa. I had heard that Reece had

been an oppressive colonial character in the NFD. I did not know how

it came to me, but I decided to compose a song, which became the

well-known song “Ka Kacaay! Ka Kacaay!” (Wake up! Wake up!):

Ka kacaay ka kacaay ka kacaay! Wake up, wake up, wake up!

kalhore nujabnee We have been defeated before

kaftankii ma jiree T this is no time for joking

Koroley la gubyay Koroley has been burnt to the ground

kufaceen la dilyay Our people have been killed

And the infidels have increased in number.

kufrigii badayay.

mrsh: What other songs did you compose after that?

aq: “Ka Kacaay! Ka Kacaay!” was not so serious. I think the first one I

wrote was “Garta naqa” (Sort out the Claims):

Gadh baan leeyahay oo I am a grown man

Guddida ma galee But I am not consulted by the elders

Gugaygu ma weynee I am still young