In the third installment of our ethnic music series, "Notes From Home," MPR's Chris Roberts visits a Somali mall in South Minneapolis to learn more about the music Somalis' generally keep to themselves. Roberts gets a guided tour from a Somali music fan and talks with a local music store owner.
CHRIS ROBERTS: A search for Somali music will inevitably lead to a Somali mall in South Minneapolis. On this Saturday night, Mohamed Amin Ahmed is our guide. Ahmed is a young Somali professional who works for a rental car company, but spends a lot of free time organizing the Minnesota chapter of freemuslims.org.
SPEAKER 2: The mosque is above us.
CHRIS ROBERTS: Ahmed is not a musician, but he is a music fanatic. And we're headed for his favorite record store. We go by a coffee shop where a crowd of Somali men are glued to Al Jazeera on the big screen. We pass small restaurants, shoe shops, and one storefront after another draped with traditional Somali clothing. The strains of African music are getting louder.
SPEAKER 2: There's one guy I like. He keeps a variety of music from Oromo Somali African. So it's kind of neat.
CHRIS ROBERTS: We arrive at California Studio, kind of an odd name for an African music store. If you want to buy a CD, owner [INAUDIBLE] Ahmed will take the original out of its case and make a copy for you. Ahmad carries a lot of Somali music because that's what he sells the most.
SPEAKER 3: I can say about 70% of my customer is Somali.
CHRIS ROBERTS: If you want a CD with the broadest range of Somali songs, says Ahmad, get this. It's Somali singing star, Hasan Samatar from Toronto.
[NON-ENGLISH MUSIC]
[SINGING IN NON-ENGLISH]
CHRIS ROBERTS: Mohamed Ahmed explains that Somalis don't categorize their music by style but by content.
SPEAKER 3: For example, there's music called [SOMALI] music, which basically is it sounds more like country music. A lot of complaining, a lot of hi, how are you doing, you lost my love, my love why are you treating me bad, or how come this is happening. And all that good stuff from country music, whatever everyone thinks of country music.
CHRIS ROBERTS: That's called [SOMALI]?
SPEAKER 3: [SOMALI], yeah.
CHRIS ROBERTS: [SOMALI]
SPEAKER 3: [SOMALI], yeah.
CHRIS ROBERTS: I don't have it yet.
SPEAKER 3: You'll get it, though.
[NON-ENGLISH MUSIC]
[SINGING IN NON-ENGLISH]
CHRIS ROBERTS: Somalis are a nomadic people, a society built on milk and meat, says Ahmed. So there are songs about the environment, the weather, and camel herds. An older form of Somali music is performed at weddings by what Ahmed describes as roaming musical poets. These performers honor a newly wedded couple by celebrating their family history in song.
SPEAKER 3: They go through the lineage. They go through what their fathers did, who their father's fathers are, who their grandfathers are. It's kind of a way of knowing your own heritage and you're knowing your own line, your descent. I mean, we are all one and the same Somalis, but every time, it's got its own unique variation and take on things.
[NON-ENGLISH MUSIC]
[SINGING IN NON-ENGLISH]
CHRIS ROBERTS: There's also a unique brand of Somali funk, patented in the '60s and '70s, which is very popular. Traditional Somali instruments include the kaban, a four-stringed guitar, and a drum made of cattle skin called the [SOMALI]. But they're quickly being replaced by synthesizers.
Ahmed says all the music he's mentioned has found its way to Minnesota. But unless you speak Somali, you probably won't know about it. Quite often, someone rents a hall, books some touring musicians, and then publicizes it with flyers on the internet or by word of mouth.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER 3: What you realize about Somali music is 90% of the songs are actually traditional. They've been around-- some of them for thousands of years. And they just keep on getting updated and updated and updated. And it's just a continuation of what was old into the new.
CHRIS ROBERTS: Ahmed says some of that new music is being created here.
SPEAKER 3: Minnesota has its own music.
CHRIS ROBERTS: Really? How would you describe that?
SPEAKER 3: The difference is in the beats. Some of them, they mix it up with reggae.
CHRIS ROBERTS: That's in Minnesota?
SPEAKER 3: That's in Minnesota. Some of them, they kind of mix it up, take a lot of mainstream music like pop music, and they kind of get the gist of it, the beats of it, the tempo of it. And you kind of get the tempo, and they sing with it Somali music. And it's purely Minnesota talent coming up here. And there's a lot of that going on, a lot of experimentation going on. A lot of new growth and new visions coming out.
CHRIS ROBERTS: Which is why Ahmed believes Somali music will eventually cross over into mainstream Minnesota. He says as nomads, Somalis are used to being in foreign lands. He says their culture has always adapted, and so has the music. I'm Chris Roberts, Minnesota Public Radio News.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Digitization made possible by the State of Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, approved by voters in 2008.
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