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Hassan Sheikh
Mumin: Poet, reciter and playwright
Mar-26-2008
The mid-1960s to the mid-1970s has been
described as the golden age of Somali
theatre, and one of the major forces
behind this was the poet and playwright
Hassan Sheikh Mumin.
Born in the coastal town of Zaila in
what was then the British Protectorate
of Somaliland, he moved to Boorame when
he was nine, where he completed his
Koranic and elementary education. This
was a time of political upheaval in the
Horn of Africa and once the British
regained the territory after a brief
occupation by Italy in 1941, they
allowed Somali political organisations
to be established which led to the
founding of the Somali Youth Club in
1943; this became the Somali Youth
League in 1947.
With a personal commitment to
independence and social and political
change, Hassan joined the party, and it
was for a rally in Boorame in the early
1950s that he composed his first public
poems. What he has called his
"first-born" poem begins with, "Dadaala
Soomaaliyaay!" ("Oh Somalis, strive!"),
and in another for the same event he
addresses education with the refrain "Carruurta
wax bara!" ("Educate the children!").
At this time, Hassan was making a living
variously as a trader, a teacher and as
a tailoring instructor, but, after
independence in 1960, he was employed
(between 1965 and 1968) by Radio
Mogadishu as a poet, reciter and
playwright, a new departure for Somali
artists who until then had not been paid
in any formal way for their work. After
1968 he was part of the Cultural
Department of the Ministry of Education
and continued to compose poems and
plays, in what was still essentially an
oral tradition, and to broadcast on the
radio.
As the military regime of Mohamed Siad
Barre, which came to power in 1969,
became more repressive of artistic
expression critical of it or how things
were in the country, poets, playwrights
and writers were censored or imprisoned
and some chose to leave. Hassan moved
from Mogadishu to the neighbouring
country of Djibouti and then later
returned to Boorame. Here he continued
to compose poems and plays, but it is
for his early plays that he is
particularly remembered.
Of these Shabeelnaagood (1968) is
regarded by many as his masterpiece and
is the only Somali play to have been
translated into English, as Leopard
Among the Women by B.W. Andrzejewski
(1974). In this, he engages with the way
in which women in the towns were subject
to predatory male attention as referred
to in this extract which was sung by
Shallaayo, the heroine, who has been
tricked into a false marriage by the
Leopard of the title:
Women have no share in the encampments
of this world
And it is men who made these laws, to
their own advantage.
By God, by God, men are our enemies,
though we ourselves nurtured them
We suckled them at our breasts, and they
maimed us:
We do not share peace with them.
In tackling this issue, aspects of
traditional Somali life, which had been
eroded by growing urbanisation are
championed, along with progressive
social reform in relation to the status
of women and the importance of
education. Further social issues are
handled in the other early plays and
later work, and for this, as well as for
his wonderful and innovative use of
their language, Hassan is fondly
remembered by Somalis, wherever they
are.
Martin Orwin
Hassan Sheikh Mumin, poet and
playwright: born Zaila, Somalia 1931;
six times married; died Oslo 16 January
2008.
Independent.co.uk Web |
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