Contents
This chapter provides a dissection of Somali love songs’ “anatomy,” with a particular focus on the love and voice that animate these songs. It traces nearly a century’s worth of Somali love poetry and song, in four sections: the love poetry of Cilmi Boodhari; the emergence of qaraami, the earliest form of instrumentally-accompanied love song; the “Golden Era” of Somali music, under the socialist regime (1970s-80s); and musical production in the post-war period.
Songs
(Or, How Love Finds its Voice)
This chapter traces the process by which intimate and otherwise unspeakable love experiences become voiced song, through a multivocal collaboration that requires input from a poet, melody-writer and vocalist. Incorporating reflections from artists active in both the pre- and post-war period, it specifically documents the making of one specific song, “Qirasho” (Confession)
Songs
This chapter traces the making of the voice in circulation, with a particular focus on Hargeysa-born singer Khadra Daahir Ciige – fondly known as hooyada jacaylka, or ‘the mother of love.’
On this page you will find audio and video recordings of Khadra’s songs, alongside photographs of the singer.
Songs
This chapter is about the work private, mainly solitary, love song listening. It profiles five different listeners of varying age and love biographies, focusing on the ways that these listeners each put love songs to work strategically in their own lives.
On this page you fill find the music, texts and translations of all of the songs featured in this chapter – listen along!
Songs
This chapter is about the making of musicians – particularly those able to sound love. Using my own lessons with renowned oud master Cabdinaasir Macallin Caydiid as a point of departure, it explores the socio-political and technical-aesthetic skills that one must learn to be a musician in a setting where music-making is a fraught undertaking.
On this page you will find some recordings of master Somali oud players, alongside images, recordings, and other resources that I gathered during my oud lessons.
Songs
This chapter is about the politics and poetics of staging love in contemporary Hargeysa. It tells the story of the 2014 opening Hiddo Dhawr—the first music venue to operate in Somaliland in over a quarter century—documenting how the venue’s mission of “heritage preservation,” alongside its commitment to the live performance of love songs, opens space for unique forms of intimacy.
On this page you will find images and videos from the venue, as well as further information about Sahra Halgan, the venue’s principal singer and founder.