Very little has been written in English about Somali theatre; notable exceptions being the work of Bogumil Andrzejewski (1974, 1978) and Mohamed Dahir Yusuf Afrah (2013).1 Yet from the mid-twentieth century through to the civil war of 1990, Somali theatre was both a popular and a socio-political cultural force. Plays toured the whole transnational Somali-speaking region, audiences queued for hours to obtain tickets, performances were taped, recorded and relayed across Somali-speaking territories and government agents attended shows to ensure that scriptsâsometimes the source of high-level ministerial debateâwere not modified in production. Somali theatre, quite unlike the case in any other culture I am considering, was hugely popular with the vast majority of the Somali-speaking populationârural and urban, educated and less so, old and young, men and women, in all nations where there were Somali populations. Prime Ministers and presidents attended the theatre, commanded special performances and wept when watching.2 Plays were seen to have major effects on national policy,3 while leading abwaan , the poet-playwrights who led the performing âbandsâ, were lauded as national sages speaking to, and educating, the national community (Kidwai 1992, 355). Even today there is ample record of Somalis at home and in the diaspora continuing to watch and listen with great enjoyment to old recordings of plays (Charmarkeh Houssein 2013, Interview Yasmin Mohamed, July 2016). In recent years, post the devastation of prolonged civil and international wars, Somali theatre in Djibouti has continued, albeit at reduced levels. In Somaliland and Somalia it has begun to try to re-establish itself, and in Europe, Canada and America diaspora groups have sought to keep the flame alive (Matzke 2016, 31â40; Charmarkeh Houssein 2013).4
Somali theatre developed from a fusion of indigenous poetry and song forms, of music utilising both local percussion and imported Middle Eastern and western instruments, of ideas of theatrical form adapted from Italian and British professional and school performances of drama and from Italian and Indian film imports. By piecing together some of the extensive research into the modern history of Somali poetry and mapping and triangulating it on to writing and interviews about music and theatre, it is unusuallyâin relation to the discussion of African-language theatre evolutionâpossible to show something of the dynamism of Somali culture over the last century (Afrah 2013; Johnson 1974; Andrzejewski and Lewis 1964). Developments were sometimes vociferously, even violently, contested. But as a result of a fascinating negotiation and embodiment of discourses of pan-Somalism, tradition and modernity, Somali-language theatre, at least between the 1950s and the 1980s emerged as a popular vessel for the expression of the voice of a people spread across a web of nations.
This chapter, unlike any other in my book, concentrates on the theatre of a particular language culture. Somalis live in Somalia, Somaliland,5 Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and across the Red Sea in Yemen, as well as in diasporas flung out, as the result of decades of civil war, across the whole world. For Somalis themselves this would not even be seen as a transnational theatre. Crucially much of the work was focused around the unifying desire of the Somali-speaking population to come together as a single nationâan aim clearly signified in the five-pointed star of the Somali flag that symbolised the Somali nation as encompassing Somali populations in Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, North-East Kenya and the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. From a Somali perspective, their nation had been divided by colonial forces, both European and African, and the over-riding political and theatrical aim from the 1950s through to 1990 was reunification. Throughout this time period, borders for many Somali were administrative and political, but not cultural or often even physical divides, as this mainly nomadic people could freely cross lightly policed grazing lands. One might therefore say that while externally this might look like a transnational theatre par excellence, for Somalis it was merely a cross-border theatre, with those borders fiercely contested and spiritually rejected as denying the reality of Somali culture and destiny. At the height of the popularity of the theatre, companiesâwhile centred on the then Marxist state of Somalia that encompassed present day Somalia and Somalilandâtoured and performed extensively beyond national borders. This, therefore, is the history of Somali-language theatre rather than that of a nation state.
I have made this choice for a number of reasons. Firstly, the non-Somali-speaking world knows so little of Somali theatre that it seems important to take this opportunity to profile a rich theatrical tradition and to seek to give an overview that I hope others will subsequently build on. Secondly, many aspects of the relatively isolated Somali theatrical evolution have been unique. There are instances where experiences overlap with other East African nations, notably in the introduction of theatre by Italian and British colonists, and in the sponsorship of theatre by a socialist state, but the form of the drama developed in a uniquely Somali manner that is all to do with culture and nothing to do with national borders.
Apart from some of the very earliest experiments initiated by foreign teachers, all Somali theatre is and has been produced in the Somali language. It has also utilised specifically Somali cultural forms. Most notably this meant that until recently nearly all theatre privileged poetic expression. Poetry, of many kinds, is hugely important in Somali culture, and ideas expressed through poetic means gain in significance and weight. As leading playwright Said Salah Ahmed explained to me: âPeople will give much more importance to ideas I speak to them through poetry rather than proseâ (Interview, July 2016). Moreover, Somali theatre, even more so than most African theatres, sees music as integral to performance. Many artists I spoke to were musicians or singers as well as actors. Theatre groups were largely music-based and known as bands. It is almost impossible to disaggregate the performing arts in Somali culture.
There has been very little formal training available for Somali theatre artists, and the idea of separate specialists in backstage skills, or even in directing, is almost unknown. A few people have now had some opportunity for study abroad but this is exceptional. The relative isolation of Somali theatre has had both advantages, in that it has developed almost exclusively out of the popular culture of the nation and in tune with the tastes of the Somali people, and disadvantages, in that there have been few opportunities for developing specialist skills or exchanging ideas among international peers.
Somali Political History
Somali identity is generally agreed (Lewis 1961, 1988, 1998; Kapteijns 2013) to have been defined by two things: clan and Islam. The date of mass conversion to Islam is unclear, but Arab and Persian colonisers were established in the city of Mogadishu by the tenth century and from there the religion spread, assisted by subsequent waves of Arab settlement and intermarriage, until by the late seventeenth century Somali Islamic culture had reached roughly present day parameters (Lewis 1988, 22â23). Given that this Islamic people were surrounded by Christian Ethiopia to the north and west, and by Bantu peoples living in the south who were at first adherents of indigenous African religions before conversion of many to Christianity during the period of British colonialism in Kenya, it is unsurprising that Somalis have seen their religion as a prime source of identity, or that they have often looked across the Red Sea to Aden and Yemen rather than to Africa for friends and allies.
Huge amounts have been written about the Somali clan structure (Fox 2015; Lewis 1961, 1988, 1998; Kapteijns 2013). Suffice it to say here that until recently an overwhelmingly pastoral people have often engaged in warlike activity among themselves in competition for wells and grazing for their camels, goats and sheep. While all Somalis are united in language and religion, allies in the struggle for the best sites for all-important livestock were seen as oneâs clan members. There are a small number of major clans, but within these are many sub-divisions. Knowledge of everyoneâs clan membership is of supreme importance and is usually the first thing Somalis will ask of anyone when they are introduced. An old explanation goes that a Somali will see his first allegiance as being to his full brother; these brothers will unite against everyone else. Next comes the immediate family, followed by the extended family. After this the clan will unite against all comers, and only finally will Somalis fight together against the rest of the world.
The Somalis did fight all comers for many years to assert their primacy in the lands they occupy. Indeed, in Ahmed Gran (The Left-Handed), in the mid-sixteenth century, they found a champion who led such successful campaigns against Christian Ethiopia that it nearly fell to Islam and only an appeal for military aid by the then Emperor Galadewos to Portuguese co-religionists prevented the collapse of the Empire (Abir 1980).
European interest in the Somali region was sparked in the mid-nineteenth century. At this time the Somali coast was loosely controlled by the Sultan in Zanzibar, but British interference arose as a result of the need to have supply depots for the fleets of the East India Company travelling between Britain and the subcontinent. In 1839 the British forcibly acquired Aden on the Arab Red Sea coast for this purpose. The new owners then found that the immediate hinterland could not provide sufficient meat for the garrison and resupplying fleets and that it had to come from across the channel in northern Somaliland. Meat was to remain the main British interest in the region known by the colonists as the âbutchers shop of Adenâ, and âwas still the guiding policy when events had driven Britain to establish a Somaliland Protectorate in 1887â. (Lewis 1988, 41) Meanwhile France was also interested in the new sea route made available by the opening of the Suez canal in 1870 and in 1881 established a trading post almost opposite Aden in the Somali port town of Obock.
This left the Italians who, coming late to colonial adventurism, sought to build an overseas empire in the Horn of Africa. From 1869 Italy began to purchase interests in the area which would become Eritrea. The primary Italian aim was to conquer Ethiopia, but acquiring land not only in the north in Eritrea, but also in the south, in Somalia, was seen as immensely helpful to wider imperial ambition (Miran 2009). In 1889 Italy concluded treaties of protection with two Somali clans. The picture was further complicated in that both Egypt and the Sultan of Zanzibar had recognised claims to parts of the Somaliland coast, while Ethiopian expansionist forces were extending their empire southwards into inland Somali-inhabited regions (Marcus 1995).
In 1896 an Italian armyâs invasion of Ethiopia launched from Eritrea was completely destroyed at the Battle of Adwa. The European powers...