Last
night´s concert by the Sahra Halgan Trio at the Korzo Theatre in The Hague
raises lots of questions. It all added
up to a fascinating evening of music, culture and politics, sponsored by the Alliance Française in The Hague.
First the
music: Sahra Halgan was accompanied by 2 French musicians, Maël Salétes on guitars and Aymeric Krol on percussion and kamala ngoni. Sahra has a wonderful
voice which ranges from jubilation to powerful protest. Her fellow musicians are
excellent: technically virtuoso and totally assured in this musical style. This
was basically a presentation of their cd Faransiskiyo Somaliland, recorded
recently in France. By the end of the concert the audience were on their feet,
joining in the dance to the African rhythms and singing along to the call and
response melodies.
I recognized
the music as being very much in the style of other African music I have heard
so my question was whether these songs were traditional or original? When I
asked M Krol after the show as I bought the cd he said that all the music was
original to the trio. I remembered that in the documentary Sahra Halgan pays
tribute to a Somaliland elder musician called Abdul Nasir, saying that when she
was young he taught her all the songs she knows. So I asked M Krol and he said
no, some of the lyrics are traditional but others, and the melodies, are
original to the trio. I am not sure how Mdme Halgan learnt the traditional songs
as lyrics only and how she would have remembered them over 20 years in France,
but if that´s how she sees it it´s fine by me. I suppose it is not important to
get hung up on the matter of authorship in what is fundamentally an oral
tradition of music.
In the Q
& A session after the concert one question was whether Mdme Halgan was
influenced by English (I think the questioner meant American) blues or by
French music. She replied that definitely not English, but yes, by the French
musicians she worked with all those years away from home. She was very emphatic
that when it came to singing she only sang in her own African language.
Sahra
Halgan describes herself as a cultural
ambassador for her home country, Somaliland. She has been resident in France
for many years and recently decided to return to Somaliland. This is no small
matter as the country is not officially recognized as an independent state by
the world community: in 1991 it broke away from Somalia and declared its
independence. Is Somaliland a country or a region?
Before the
concert there was a showing of the informative and moving documentary made by Cris Ubermann . He details Sahra Halgan´s difficult life in France and the challenges
of returning to her home country. The documentary includes interviews with her
16 year old daughter, first in France, a European teenager full of admiration
for Sahra Halgan as mother, singer and cultural ambassador; later we see her in
Somaliland as a student of the American school, quite frank about the
difficulties of adapting to boarding school and to dressing to fit the local
codes.
Sahra
Halgan describes her life in Somaliland in the documentary. She describes her
achievements as an entrepreneur setting up a restaurant which employs 19 local
people. Added to the normal difficulties of setting up a new business are the restrictions
on women as owners and as bank account holders. She blames these restrictions
on the international community´s refusal to recognize her country. Are these
problems as a woman to do with the international community or more to do with
the country´s own decisions on how it is to be run?
Was I the
only one in the audience who was ignorant about Somaliland and its bid for
international recognition? I notice on youtube there are numerous films about
the diaspora returning to Somalia and the surrounding region, not just from
France but also other European countries. There is also a UN mission to Somalia
which, according to local reports, is regarded
as a threat to the continuance of Somaliland as an independent state.
Clearly
there is a need for cultural ambassadors like Sahra Halgan to explain her view
to the world.
Thanks to
the Alliance Française in The Hague for this fascinating evening: many questions were raised and some were
answered, about Somaliland and its music, culture and politics.
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