Indie rap and scary fundamentalism in Somalia - Waayaha Cusub

While young Islamic militants are shooting and shaving citizens in Somalia for “crimes” like going to a movie theatre, imposing their version of faith on others and intending to dispose of anyone who doesn’t agree (a path that leads only to loneliness and regret I’m pretty sure) another group of youth from the ravaged nation are trying to make music that brings peace.

Meet Waayaha Cusub ie; New Era. According to the BBC:

Most of them are in their early twenties and have been living as refugees in Kenya for more than a decade.

They have stepped out of the old poetic tradition and introduced more creative and modern lyrics to the Somali music industry.

“We do not copy songs from old musicians, we come up with our own ideas and sing about what is happening by the day, something that rarely happens,” says group member Jamila Jamma.

The group, which has been enjoying a lot of airtime on Somali radio stations and music programmes on Kenyan television channels, has been pushing for reconciliation in their country.

“We are not happy with what is happening back home, in fact we have recorded a thought-provoking song that we hope will bring our leaders back to their senses,” Ms Jamma says.

The song, entitled Somalia, rebukes the country’s leadership and warlords for causing the pain and destruction as they fight for power and challenges them to outline what they will do to restore order to the country.

Looking at the videos on Youtube I found myself digging the rap and the great girl singer holding her own, but then wondering if I was missing something in the transmission when I saw this other video that seemed to urge ongoing jihad in Somalia. I thought ummm, perhaps by jihad they mean peaceful resistance, and “a challenge to outline what will be done to restore the country” and not jihad as in shooting kids in the legs for liking Bollywood? Gulp, maybe not. The odd thing is, today, that particular video seems to be gone. And I’m not sure it was the same people in the first place, though definitely under their name; the music wasn’t as good and the production was different. More with the glowing red word Jihad, then the images of poverty in cities and the evident social critique I’ve come to expect now from Waayaha Cusub. And this particular video is nowhere on the Waayaha Cusub official website.

I think I may have witnessed some full on scary propaganda, and nearly blogged it. A moment of slamming reality mid Montreal picnics and jams.

One thing I know, and try not to forget, much of the world is too complicated to be summed up in a ‘hey fun, some music from Somalia!’ type blog post. This medium is addictive, fast and lasting but I think it’s mostly about capturing the reaction of a moment, not thorough analysis. Hopefully you enjoy our knee jerks, and we’ll try to be as careful as possible with this media portal not to pass on scary fakery. Fortunately if we screw up there’s a billion ways and places to tell us so, so that’s something.

Highfives to this great group, brave kids tackling the truth in a scary place and time, let’s check out one more of their videos, and send them love: