By Author Adan Makina
October 31, 2023
With
the Somali language being profoundly poetic since it has been described by
Europeans traversing through it as a nation that teems with poets, there’s no
doubt that it is an ancient language that deserves further research and
deserving of deciphering some of its etymologically hidden secrets and whether
it has undergone linguistic adulteration.
In
1854, Richard Burton, a Briton called Richard Burton who was on a secret
mission traveled through Somalia in 1854. Astonished by the advanced poetry of
the Somalis that was the number one means of communication in an era when mass
communication was unavailable, noted in his book, ' The First Footsteps in
East Africa':
"The country teems with 'poets, poetasters, poetitoes, poetaccios': every man has his recognized position in literature as accurately defined as though he had been reviewed in a century of magazines–the fine ear of this people causing them to take the greatest pleasure in harmonious sounds and poetical expressions, whereas a false quantity or a prosaic phrase excite their violent indignation.”
Apart from the two words poets and poetasters that appear in
English dictionaries, the other two, poetitoes and poetaccios appear nowhere
because they are Anglicized Italian. While a poet is someone who has
mastered the art of poetry, a poetaster is defined as the writer of inferior
poetry. However, according to Dr. Georgi Kapchits, a Linguist, Author,
Essayist, and a Grammarian of Somali and Amharic languages and an expert in the
historical configurations of Omotic languages, defined them this way:
"Poetito (Italian word)–small, i.e., not good poet. "Poetaccio
(Italian word)– rhymer, i.e., not real poet."
A
man by the name Cali Dhuux once started poetic exchanges that continued for 23
years–a strange phenomenon that brought together 12 erudite poets who were all
Somalis. Here are the names of the 12 men:
1.
Cali-Dhuux Aadan
2. Qamaan Bulxan
3. Maxamed Fiin
4. Buraale Cali Ubaxle
5. Ismaaciil Mire
6. Cilmi Carab Cabdi
7. Salaan Carrabey
8. Ismaaciil Cigaal Bullaale
9. Xaaji Khaliif Aw-Axmed
10. Xuseen Hudle
11. Maxamed Cumar Dage
12. Samatar Baxnaan
Cali Dhuux who was from the Dhulbahante subclan of the major Darod clan once took a camel to a water well he knew belonged to his cousins–the populous Ogaadeen. With his camel whose name was ‘Cartan’ (ferocious), Cali Dhuux got astonished when he found a different subclan from the Isaaq clan had taken over the water well. It was at that moment that he recited a poem for his camel Cartan. He linguistically exploded by saying:
Cartaneey Camuud layska qaad ceelkii Reer
Magane
Hadday curadii nool yihiin waad cabbi
lahayde
Nimankii ku caawini jiraan cidi ka
noolayne
Cabdullahi iyo Yuusufbaa ciidda hoos
maraye
Badal baa cashiiro u xigoo waa cuq
dabadeede
Raggii calanku saarnaan jiriyo Caliba loo
diidye
Nimanbaa caarsho u noqdiyo Caamir oo kale
Marbuu Haybe sidda coomir degay looga soo
cararye
Ma la cowryi Reer Yuusuf waa cirir
Ogaadeene
Miduu caayo miduu caydhiyiyo mid uu
carjaameeyo
Saddexdaa calaamu ka dhigay cuurkii Reer
Dalale
Caqli mid aan lahayn baa tahee ha i
caloolyeynin
Oo Cayn iyo Hartaad leedahye caraqa
fuuqfuuqso
Cali
Dhuux gave a dire warning to anyone who revealed the upcoming poem, because, by
doing so, he would spill the beans by releasing more amusing poetic
attestations. However, since two is no secret and that three is a company,
someone, somewhere, regurgitated it while in a far away place. Here is the
poem:
Doqonkii Ogaadeen ahaa Doollo laga qaadye
Loo diid Dannood iyo hadduu degi lahaa
Ciide
Nimanbaa dalkoodiyo xukuma labadi daaroode
Darraatoole iyo Faafanoo wada duraabaaya
Deegaanta haraday ku tiil daaqi mahayaane
Deex kama mareershaan halkay deleb ku
beerneyde
Markii duraha jiilaal kacee doogga la
idlaysto
Duurkiyo dayada Hawd markay Debec ku soo
oonto
Laaskii uu ku dalandooli jiray loogu degi
waaye
Alla daw guduuddii Wardheer kama
durduuraane
Dawadeedu waa Jeerinley uga dul geeraare
Ceelkii biyaha diirranaa looma dawdabo'e
Dixda Qarandi Deeroy Mataan loo dardari
waaye
Maantana dukaamaa la dhigay degelkii
Gaafoowe
Darar kagama maalaan Camuud diiqo iyo
xoore
Dixda Raygaleed iyo Gargaar laysu
dacareeye
Dayr baaba lagu meeriyoo loo dabbaal
degaye
Other than Arabic which towers above other languages when it comes to poetry, presumably, Somali is the second language in the world to enjoy unchallenged poetic manifestations. It is so, because, when it comes to poetry, the Somali language is the only language where a poet can rehearse poetry repetitively undiminished using every alphabet interactively depending on topical integration. Looking at the Cali Dhuux’s poem, the reader could easily glimpse at his repeatitive use of the alphabet ‘D’.
I mentioned Arabic because it has been the major driving factor that gave the Quraish of Makka who were fighting the Messenger of Allaah, Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him, to subdue his messages, until, a complete chapter that is Surah 15 and known as As-Shu’ara was revealed to Proophet Muhammad. “This surah addresses the intense anxiety that God’s Messenger, salla l-lahu `alayhiwa-sallam, suffered on account of the negative responses he got when he conveyed to the people the message God had commanded him to convey. It seems that he blamed himself (v. 26:3).”[1]
New
Orleans is reputedly the birthplace of jazz music, but mention of B.B. King's
'The Thrill is Gone' takes me back to a new world of music like any other genre
except Blues that is pretty much identical in beats and sound. A product
invented by African American slaves from different regions of the African
continent, Jazz remained with me for over four decades. Let me share with you
the lyrics of B.B. King’s song “The Thrill is Gone.”
The thrill is gone
The thrill is gone away
The thrill is gone, baby
The thrill is gone away
You know you done me wrong, baby
And you'll be sorry someday
The thrill is gone
It's gone away from me
The thrill is gone, baby
The thrill is gone away from me
Although, I'll still live on
But so lonely I'll be
The thrill is gone
It's gone away for good
All the thrill is gone
Baby, it's gone away for good
Someday I know I'll be open-armed baby
Just like I know, I know I should
You know, I'm free,
free now, baby
I'm free from your spell
Oh, free, free, free now, baby
I'm free from your spell
And now that it's all over
All that I can do is wish you well
The language used by B.B. King resembles what you would call “broken English” or “Supermarket English” since it was the type that was spoken those days. Mention Blues and my heart trembles with the anguish of personal past and present turmoil. Born in the Mississippi Delta, the fact for me is that it was first delivered in Kansas City, Missouri–The City of Fountains–the city where my four children were born and the home to former President Harry Truman who dropped the Atomic Bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during WWII in 1945.
In one Somali song–a song that resembles the Blues of Kansas City having rhythmical beats that instills sudden depression, sadness, and melancholic feelings and whose vocalists are Sahra Ahmed Jama–the “Queen of Voice” and a male Somali vocalist–a no nonsense self-proclaimed man with indescribably sensational voice recount the pain and anguish experienced by his female lover. While unearthing her hidden secrets, he clearly tells her that her glances and visualizations are no cure for hunger and deprivation. To him, she has no symptomatic ailments and that it is her self-pride and nonsensical elevation that are lowering her self-worth and human value. Her perspiration in cold weather and shivering in the scorching heat and the concealment of her personal affairs are indicators of deliberate painful injections since she is not a patient of diagnosable infirmity but one derived from sheer stupidity.
Aggravated by his ludicrous lambasts of her condition, she poetically and meticulously engages him using her melodious voice to further deliver her in-depth knowledge of love’s devastation in recorded history. In response to his revelations of the ailments that afflicts her, she boisterously begins reminding him that his rhetorical language is immensely a terrifying issue and surreptitiously bereft of philosophical help but flatly platitudinous since love has been the mastermind of the death of Qays and Elmi and Qarshe and Ismail, and Ali Sugulle and many others that have not been documented.
No doubt, love is a killer psychological disease that has evaded human perception, though in Somali traditional psychic observations, human-to-human concupiscence has been in existence since human creation. Prostitution, the second oldest tradition, did not simply evolve vacuously but from human soul’s attraction to desire for a partner. In a conversation with a gentleman who seemed to be well connected to some of the refugee youth from Somalia in Kenya, his keen observation of the many who have gone haywire must not be taken lightly.
Working in cahoots with experts in thaumaturgy, a practice Somalis refer to as Ayaana or Boorana has gained momentum in recent years. Young ladies abandoned by Diaspora vacationers arrive in modern vehicles with tinted windows seeking the help of voodoo experts who intervene through abracadabra–a form of demonic invocation where the practitioner, after renouncing Islam, performs urinary ablution that catapults him into the unknown satanic realm. Presenting an unwashed shirt of the culprit, an underwear, a T-shirt or any other wearable garment allows the Voodooist to extract perspiration for ease of deporting the vulturous Diasporan. Crossing the Tana River using what Somalis call Darajaani which is a bridge heading towards a small settlement called Mororo, there is a man of Bantoid ethnicity and whose name is Mzee Gareys. An expert and rambunctious magician he is, his ludicrously paganistic and shamanistic devotion to geomancy and hydromancy, is beyond human comprehension. It is beyond human reproach that most of his customers are females. Though paganistic, the use of magic has been overwhelmingly spreading among Somalis since early 1991 when the Somali central government collapsed. Any woman seeking the help of Mzee Gareys must undress so he can get to see her nudity, as related to me by an interviewee who seemed well aware of the notoriety of magicology on the highway to Ganana Maro.
The
practice of magic is not only restricted to the African people because, it is
widespread and remains a driving force among disbelievers. It is used among the
Māori and the Trobriander who are Melanesian people of the Kiriwina (Trobriand)
Islands who are known for practicing heresy, witchcraft, shamanism, Vodou, and superstition.[2] Part of the Oceanian
Realm, Micronesia 
has special specific connotation that
almost shuttered my world on an unprecedented day. Elephant years ago, at an
international airport, I walked into a McDonalds and placed an order in a faraway
land. The service provider was a beautiful lady. After paying for the order and
receiving my receipt, I sat down to be called when my order was ready. A born
reader who would wrestle with a piece of paper from a newspaper or magazine
blown by winds in my youthful years just for the sake of browsing through the
contents, immediately, I started looking at the McDonald’s receipt. To my
amazement, the lady who served me shared the same name with me. The namesake
semblance or homonymity, startled my inner resolve.
Having mastered the study of human behavior, I stood up, retrieved my ID Card and walked towards where the mystifying lady stood behind the counter. Without mincing words, I broke into laughter and presented her the receipt together with my ID Card. After glancing through both documents, she as well broke into laughter. Immediately, we became friends. She cancelled the receipt and told me that my meal was paid. I was refunded the cost I paid earlier and then returned back to where I was sitting before. When my service time came, I walked towards the lady with dignity. We exchanged telephone numbers and bade her goodbye. In fact, she was from Mariana Islands that’s a United States territory. Mariana women are really beautiful, light-skinned, muscular and energetic and a bit resemble Amazonian people. Having studied the Yanomami people in college, her appearance and physical features were not new to me.
That’s not all, anyway. Somali music is mostly divided into Qaraami, Qaaci and Jazz and other traditional types that bring together many players like Saar and Dhaanto, and theatrical dances and humorous ones. The major instrument is the non-electrical type called Kaban. Likewise, Somali musicians use pianos, trumpets, and drums to make their music captivating.
In
the song “Sida faras Bullaale” by vocalist Abdi Tahlil Warsame, he
describes his lover using metaphorical language that is hard for modern youth
to comprehend its meaning. Other than enjoying the voice of the vocalist and
the deafening noise from the musical instruments, the young refugee confounded
by invisible love that penetrates his or her psychiatric dimensions, may be
hard to postulate.
Like
the horse of Bullaale*
That
has never experienced drought
Browsing
in Nugaal Valley
Overwhelmed
by fatness all over
Or
immaculately sitting undisturbed
After
being fed to the fullest
The
navel and chest emblazoned
Is
when the skin undergoes melanophores
While
the tail brushes the ground…
The
vocalist is describing his female lover who has never experienced hunger and
deprivation in Bullaale because of the abundance of food and other necessities.
Fat and close to obesity after years of being solitudinarians, resulting from
loneliness due to the absence of her male lover, she remains sited undisturbed.
Her chest is so beautiful such that the bosoms on her chest remain visible to
him alone. After years of feeding on the best nutritiously managed balanced
diet, her skin experiences melanophores–change of skin pigmentation that
catches the eye of every man in search of a partner. Even though human beings
have no tails, obviously, she is approaching a stage 
of becoming
steatopygous–for it is beyond reasonable doubt that Somali men of aforetimes
had great admiration for girls with big buttocks and fatty thighs.
While Western countries give credence to beauty contestants who are slim and that pageants convergence arena is “a platform for showcasing women's empowerment, diversity, intelligence, and leadership”, for some Muslim countries like Mauritania, force feeding starts at a young age while being thin is considered a sign of inferiority.[3] No wonder, Somali women shined in the world of beauty contests with Iman being the first to win a contest in the past and to this day, a walk into a supermarket in Western countries will attract your attention because she has a complete assortment of cosmetics dedicated to her.
*Bullaale is a town in
the Somali Region of Ethiopia
[1]
Mohammad Akram Nadwi (). Notes
on Surah al-Shu’ara’. Al-Salam Institute. Retrieved from https://alsalam.ac.uk/notes-shuara/#:~:text=This%20surah%20addresses%20the%20intense,26%3A3).
[2] Britannica, T.
Editors of Encyclopaedia (2015, October 26). Trobriander. Encyclopedia
Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trobriander.
