African Music – The Blog of Samite

Posts Tagged ‘Africa Music Blog’

News on an Africa music blog shows Africa remains a continent with trouble spots.   In Mogadishu, Somalia, music radio stations are struggling to reconcile two disparate directives.

On the one hand, the stations received an ultimatum from Islam in April, 2010 to stop playing music.  On the other hand, the government warned that any station that complied with the threat would be shut down.

The conflict underscores the question of exactly who is in charge in Somalia, a near anarchical country.  A brave contingent of independent journalists perseveres, even under the threat of violence.

The insurgent Islamic group Hizbul warned of “serious consequences” to any radio station that did not adhere to a deadline to halt all music, due to its “un-Islamic” nature.   Some defiant station owners filled the dead air with recitation of lyrics, and sound effects of loud items like gunshots, animals whinnying, and engines revving, as they determined their next step.

The government meanwhile was taken aback by this challenge to authority and held a news conference announcing that any station that buckled to the demand by Hizbul would be ordered shut down.

The general secretary of the Mogadishu administration of the Transitional Federal Government , Abdikafi Hilowle Osman, accused the broadcasters of “working with” the radicals.

The fight over radio stations is the latest problem in an escalating conflict over Western ideology in Islamic land.  The Islamic radicals seek to purge these influences and have even threatened to ban Voice of America and BBC programs.

Also recently, in a village north of Mogadishu, the country’s most powerful insurgent group Shabab, banned school bells there.  It said the noise too closely resembled the sound of church bells and was therefore un-Islamic.

All internationally recognized observances such as World AIDS Day were banned as well.  For a lighter side of African music news, please stay tuned to this blog.

We asked Samite to forward some information about his instruments and music to post here on the African Music Blog, and this was his reply.

“Most of the instruments I play, find me.

Some of them are given to me by instrument makers, and others like all the instruments I have collected from East Africa, are very old and have been played by masters who are now dead.

Such instruments have soul.  They are the “Soul of Africa” in my opinion.

If these instruments were to talk, they would repeat all the stories that they have accompanied over the years as musicians were entertaining in the villages.  Many of the stories would happy stories about newborn babies, and others would be sad stories about the death of a loved one.

I am very excited to have this Africa Music Blog so that I can share stories with you.  I look forward to telling you about the music that I write, the experiences that have shaped my songs, and my hopes for the future of African music.

photo credit: Sheryl Sinkow

When I am not playing the kalimba or flutes, I am playing the litungu.  The litungu is a seven string Kenyan harp, typical of the kind of instrument you will find in all the stringed East African Music.

I love this instrument because it’s very gentle.  If you just listen, you might think you are listening to a guitar.  In this link you can download for free, an MP3 version of a song I call “Waterfall.”

Waterfall

It was recorded live in a concert I did with David Cullen in Elizabethtown PA.  Let me know what you think.

I look forward to sharing other songs with you in the future.

Mirembe (peace),

Samite”

Wow, all I can say is this is very moving.  You will truly appreciate the spirit of Samite’s talent and beautiful music in this free African music download. > Right Click Here to Download – Select Save Link As

Rich Hill, editor
AfricanMusicBlog.com

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