Somali traditional music has been passed down through generations and is still alive today. This music has its roots in the Somali people’s nomadic lifestyle, which has been shaped by their environment and culture.
In Somali tradition, poetry is given more prestige than music, as demonstrated by the fact that poets are primarily remembered for their verses rather than their musical creations. The scarcity of musical instruments in Somali culture further supports this trend, particularly in the north where classical male genres like gabay, jiifto, and geeraar feature handclapping as accompaniment.
Other genres associated with dance may sometimes include the use of a drum, typically a simple gasoline can, along with handclapping. Women also play drums as accompaniment for buraanmbur, which is performed at celebrations and weddings.
On the other hand, southern regions of Somalia exhibit a greater variability in their use of instruments, including at least four types of drums such as durbaan, yoome, jabbu, and nasar as well as various flutes.
Other percussion instruments may include metal hoe-blades (shagal oo biro) and wooden clappers (shanbal), as well as a lyre (theshareero), conch shells (buun oo caroog), and antelope horns, which are blown rhythmically.
The lyrical content of these pieces often centers around themes of love, longing, and nostalgia. These pieces also typically feature traditional Somali proverbs and folk stories, giving them an extra layer of cultural significance.
In the 20th century, Somali artists started to combine Somali traditional music with western elements such as jazz, rock, funk, soul, reggae, blues, pop, etc. Somalia’s leading artists were ensembles like Iftiin, Dur-Dur, Danan Hargeysa, Sharero, Waaberi and female vocalists Faadumo Qaasim and Hibo Nuura.
In the early 1990s, the trendy discos and seaside stages in Mogadishu were destroyed during the Civil War, while the city was bombed. As a result, Somalia’s musical artists went into exile, with many of them settling in London, which now has the largest Somali community in Europe.
Over the past years, reissues of early recordings from Somalia’s funk, soul, and disco scene have become popular among music enthusiasts beyond the Somali community. These recordings can now be found in vinyl collections and on radio and streaming playlists.
In 2019, Dur-Dur band got back together in Germany to record ‘The Berlin Session” (released in 2023). The band featured Somali diaspora artists based in various European countries.
