Aar Maanta is a UK based Somali artist, described by young British Somalis as “the voice of our generation.”

By Aar Maanta (Published by Musicouch) — After seeing my recent press release regarding my new album an international news agency contacted me. They asked me if I would like to go on their program and air my views on recent events regarding Somali sea pirates. I am not an expert on this issue so I refused. I could not sit in a newsroom and speculate how these pirates where the unofficial coast guards of Somalia, while allegedly some of them were involved in the illegal trafficking of our people across unsafe seas by hazardous means for money. Instead I decided to write this blog to discuss about another form of piracy that as a Somali artist affects my work and me. That is the pirating of Somali intellectual property for money. By intellectual property I mean the creation of the mind such as musical, literacy and artistic work.

If you ask anyone today one word they would associate Somalia with, they would most probably say piracy. However over forty years ago the answer would’ve been another six-letter word which also begins with the letter P. How did we Somalis change from people liked for their poetry to people loathed for their piracy? Whether one’s pirating a song or a ship, greed is one new habit that has become the norm for many of our people. There is clearly an underlying issue or problem within Somali society today. That is the lack of respect for other people’s property and for any kind of law that is associated with, whether civil or criminal and national or international. It seems that as a result of our on going civil war, our customs are changing fast and for the worst.

Since the collapse of the Somali State in 1991 stealing of Somali intellectual property has been taken place in two ways.

1. Mechanical; Duplication of Cd’s, tapes, books, art and photography without permission and selling them on for profit. There is also the uploading of unauthorized material on websites that provide them for free in order to channel more traffic to these websites and earn money from advertising for Google. I lost count the number of times I uploaded exclusive material on my website or music page, only to find them re edited and uploaded on other Somali websites without my permission?
2. The other specific topic that I wish to focus more in this blog, is the pirating or re-recording of classic Somali songs by new Somali artists in the Diaspora. These pirate singers do this in order to gain fame and make money. While the rightful owners of these songs are often back in Africa living in poverty, the pirate singers are happy rolling in the money from playing at weddings and venues all over the world performing popular songs they never wrote or composed.

There is nothing wrong with reviving some sentimental songs that people can relate to every now and then. However, when almost every song on every Somali album that came out since 1991 has been a pirated song, something has seriously gone wrong with our art. Since the collapse of the Somali state our art has been looted the same way that some people’s property and material goods have been looted back in Africa. However, while we appal the later action, we often encourage the other by paying for the services of these con artists or by buying their fake work from counterfeit music stores or downloading them for free from pirate websites. In the end this only benefits the parasitical owners of these stores, websites and their Qat and Qabiil habits.

Metaphorically speaking these pirates have been singing the same old song far too long. Unfortunately like our politicians that song is from a 1960′s sheet. In other words they have not moved forward with the time. Because of this most young Somalis cannot relate to Somali music any more. A lot of our young people would now rather buy American music before they would buy Somali, listen to Country before they would listen to Qaaci and even dance to Bhangra before they would dance to Banadiri. Whatever happened to originality, creativity, and innovation and with it addressing the issues of the day? After all I thought that was the role of the artist. Isn’t that what Abdillahi Suldaan (Timacade) was doing over forty years ago? When with his poetry he was predicting the dark path tribalism was leading us. Wouldn’t you want the same kind of legacy as an artist?

My stage name is Aar Maanta and whether you agree with my type of art or not, one can not underestimate its importance in promoting one’s heritage or culture particularly at times of struggle. Hence, the title of my new record Hiddo & Dhaqan. Forget as a nation but if we were even to survive as a race or ethnic group, we must respect each other’s property. We must also remember what we have in common and unites us; such as our language, and celebrate the positive aspects of our culture and art. That is the mission of every great nation. Because modern history taught me that conquering nations didn’t go to war with armaments only, if they did then I wouldn’t be writing this piece in English today.

To conclude, a lot of effort and time goes into my work. For example, I write, produce, record, mix, master and distribute most of my material. With the help of a few close friends I managed to release Hiddo & Dhaqan through my own record label. With Maanta Music my mission is clear and stated above. Therefore, if you share my idea that music for today with a positive message has a role to play in our reconciliation process and the uplifting of our people and culture, then please help keep it a live and buy it the right way.

Hiddo & Dhaqan is on general release now and you can buy it legally from; CD baby, Apple iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, Amazon, eMusic, Spotify, Didiom, Shockhound, Ruckus, Lala, GroupieTunes, Tradebit, PayPlay, Inprodicon, Verizon, GreatIndieMusic. If you have any questions regarding Hiddo & Dhaqan or any other aspect of my work please don’t hesitate contact me.

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