The Day the Music Died in Mogadishu

(Crossposted at Brains Like a Shoe)

The New York Times reports that at least 14 radio stations in Mogadishu stopped broadcasting music on Tuesday, “heeding an ultimatum by an Islamist insurgent group to stop playing songs or face ’serious consequences.’”

Because of these threats from Hizb Islam, the director of one of the radio stations said:

We have replaced the music of the early morning program with the sound of the rooster, replaced the news music with the sound of the firing bullet and the music of the night program with the sound of running horses…It was really a crush. We haven’t had time to replace all the programs at one time; instead, we have chosen these sounds.

In solidarity with the people of Somalia and music lovers there especially, I thought it would be an appropriate time to highlight Somali rap phenomenon, K’naan.  The powerful lyrics from his song entitled “Somalia” help paint the painful, oftentimes grotesque, and heroic stories of his people:

This is where the streets have no name and the drain of sewage

You can see it in the boy how the hate is brewin’

‘Cause when his tummy tucks in, fuck, the pain is fluid

So what difference does it make entertaining, threw it

Some getting high mixing coke and gun powder, sniffin’

She got a gun, but could have been a model or physician

Have a listen…