Despite challenges, Mogadishu’s new music, artwork provide cultural soundtrack to city’s rebirth

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MOGADISHU | QOL | May 12, 2016 – With bright blue Somali flags tied around their waists, Somali musicians danced and sang for a cheering and clapping audience at a Mogadishu stadium on a recent afternoon.

Until recently, such performances were banned under the puritanical rule of Islamist militants but as a peace not seen in years settle over the capital musicians and artists are also enjoying a renaissance.

The music is steadily returning, but Somalia still has a long way to go to regain its rich cultural past. The packed open-air venues of the 1980s are bombed to rubble or occupied by squatters. The music has changed too. Gone are the songs about love and romance, instead new tracks are about everyday struggle and the desire for peace.

“Peace, peace, peace is our prime target now than anything else, we want to reshape our people’s minds,” says Yusuf Hassan, a Somali singer strumming his guitar at at the stadium in the Somali capital.

“We have been through over 20 years of blood and war, now we are in search for peace,” he said.

Since the ouster of Somali militants from the capital in 2011, musicians say their hopes have returned that their country’s once vibrant music scene is making a comeback.

traditional dancers keep n preserve the culture. they perform for the wider urban public.

With optimism, musicians say they are now busy getting their old musical instruments work again, thanks to the relative stability in the seaside city, and the old vibrancy of music being important to a thriving Somali culture is again growing.

“Music is a power which can influence people so easily, and it can guide our people to the path of peace,” Hassan, a veteran Somali musician said, sitting at the lobby of a hotel in the Somali capital.

Few years ago, Somali musicians were not able to sing in public to promote peace, as Al-Shabab militants were threatening musicians, but could instead secretly recorded songs discouraging war and the recruitment of children as soldiers.

Although music enjoys a greater support in the conservative nation, musicians still face risks in their endeavors for peace. Across the Somali capital, Somali musicians perform on daily basis in a city where bombers kill scores of people every year.

Stand Up Comedy for a cause in #Mogadishu Happy Khalif hilarious jokes cracked the house.

Their lyrics are breaking the barriers, bringing together hundreds of people who express their sentiments for peace. Residents in this war-torn city which was once submerged in militancy are also receiving the new wave of musical activism with full support and excitement.

“Would anyone dare to divide us? We are homogeneous people with one language, one religion and one culture,” Musicians loudly sung with music echoing in the background.

“Our dignity and sovereignty is back, violence seeker again will go to jail. We (Somalis) are desperate for peace.”

The new relative peace in the city has allowed long missing musicians to come together after years of war. Their peace messages through music continue to gain ground. Their music tune is quite different than a year ago that they can now sung in support for the army which is fighting Al-Shabab fighters.

Militant fighters have been forced out from the seaside capital, bring back music, art and streetlights that further unleashed the city’s rebirth. Somalis who lived abroad also started returning home, bring some prospect of peace.

“After a long time, the peace has brought us together and we are promoting it with our people,” said one musician on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“We are happy to see our people gradually understanding the benefits of peace now,” she says.

The phenomenon keeps musicians busy, as the peace enabled Somalis to hold parties and concerts about peace, symbolizing a hope for better days.

“Their peace music really makes us very patriotic and truehearted tp our country” Hodan Mohamed, a resident of Mogadishu says.

As peace messages are being conveyed through music, the artwork is also thriving.

Along the streets of the Somali capital, peace messages are on billboards everywhere and these messages make their viewers stuck think and learn more about it.

“That quick stop and glance is important, the viewer can contemplate about peace” says Warsame Tohow, a 57-year-old veteran artist painting a billboard showing police and villagers collaborating to arrest a thief who robbed an old man on his way to mosque.

“My artwork could contribute to my country’s peace, so I do it for my people” Tohow said smiling as he pointed his finger at another painted board showing people on queue for jobs under a beautiful building surrounded by a green grass.

“Peace can bring such nice days, that everyone can use his knowledge to make a living, rather than a gun”.