K'naan " my aunt Magool was the most famous singer &quo

[Xabashooow]

DUSTY PHILOSOPHY
BY RUSSELL MYRIE

Growing up in war-torn Somalia has given poet and songwriter K'naan plenty of material
If he chose to, K'naan could make the kind of gangsterfied hip-hop that would make even the hardest street representative stop and think about the trials of life. Obviously, growing up in the more grimy areas of many Western major cities isn't, and never will be, a barrel of laughs. But it's nothing compared to what goes on in the more grimy areas of many major African cities.

Put simply, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Harlem, Brixton and Harlesden must seem like holiday resorts compared to anyone who, like K'naan, has survived the Somalian civil war. Still not convinced? Remember that part in Bullet Boy when Ricky's (Asher D) younger brother finds his gun and accidentally pops his best friend in the arse? The Somalian version of young children finding things they shouldn't is a little different.

On his tenth birthday K'naan and his cousin found a grenade on the floor of his classroom in Mogadishu. While messing about with it the pin fell out. A panicked K'naan decided to throw said device as far away as he could. But that didn't stop him blowing up his school building, which, lucky for him, was empty.

"My cousin and I survived the incident and my mother was patting us down to see if any part of us had been blown off," says K'naan, which means traveller in Somalian and is his first name. "At first she was worried but when she found there was nothing wrong she started yelling at us like, 'what are you doing playing with grenades, what's wrong with you!'"

K'naan and his family fled Somalia at age 14 and journeyed first to Harlem, New York before settling in Toronto, Canada.


MEMORIES
"I have two prominent memories of Somalia. One is obviously the peaceful era when it was kinda serene and we lived by the ocean. I had an incredibly rich, poetic family surrounding me - my aunt Magool was the most famous singer in my country. I had an upbringing that was really linguistic and really beautiful. The second part was when the war came and tragedy struck and took over the country and then it was all guns and violence."

He first got into American hip-hop when he began to pester his Harlem-based father to hit him off with some tapes. The fact that he didn't speak English didn't deter him from learning all the words to songs from groups like Eric B and Rakim.

"I just learned the rhythm and the way they rhymed and the diction of the words. I didn't learn English 'til I moved to New York. After that I would go back to the words I was reciting and I was like 'wow that's what it really meant'."

The seeds of his career were sown in 2001 when he performed a spoken word poem at the 50th anniversary of the UN Commission for Refugees. Youssou N'Dour, who was in the audience, was so impressed by what he heard - a criticism of the UN for failing to properly provide relief in Somalia - that he invited K'naan to Senegal to record with him.


WAR CHILD
A year later a verse he recorded for a War Child benefit track called Keep The Beat caught the attention of Jarvis Church, one half of the production team, Track and Field, who'd won Grammys with Nelly Furtado. After linking up with the production team, K'naan began work on his debut album proper. Songs like Soobax, What's Hardcore and the opening track Wash it Down shed some light on why he's dubbed himself The Dusty Foot Philosopher.

"Me and my cats, we would just go hanging out in the streets and we'd see gunfights and things like that, and a lot of us were involved in that. But in the evening we'd come and sit on top of an abandoned building that was next to my house and just as the sun was going down, me and my dudes used to look out into the city and talk about our existence. We'd talk about God and survival and what it would be like if we had lived somewhere else as children."


The Dusty Foot Philosopher is out now on SonyBMG

Story from Voice-Online
http://www.voice-online.co.uk/content.php?show=9151
Copyright © GV Media Group Ltd 2006. All rights reserved.

[DawladSade]

How can keenaan go around talking about how law-less Somalia is when it is his people who are the mooryaans in somalia who keep the lawlessness in in non-Darood areas?

[michael_ital]

xaba buon vederli ancora

[AbdiWahab252]

[quote="DawladSade"]How can keenaan go around talking about how law-less Somalia is when it is his people who are the mooryaans in somalia who keep the lawlessness in in non-Darood areas?[/quote]

Dawlaad.... I guess Kismayo is a very safe area.

[Basra-]

Lol@Abdi

[DawladSade]

You can't be graced with a response Abdi-hutu. Get rid of the dameer mentality first!

Kismaayo is quite safe. There are attempts to capture it ever 5 years but the opposing sides (Marehan and Harti) fight outside the city like men and accept defeat. One branch doesnt capture a section of the city and harass the woman and children and set up primitive roadblocks.

No, they sign peace for another 5 years and run their business enterprise like the rer magaal men they are.

Are there homocides ever so often? Well of course! What city doesn't?

But only Abdi-hutu will compare that to what goes on in Hutu lands.

[_V_gYaL_]

Barqo roobku heley bilicdoodii lahaydo, waxa ii bishaara iyo barwaaqo ahayd aragtideedo. Xidigtii soomaliyeed,meeshey marto dadku weecan jireen. R.I.P

[quote="DawladBurburtay"]How can keenaan go around talking about how law-less Somalia is when it is his people who are the mooryaans in somalia who keep the lawlessness in in non-Darood areas?[/quote]


Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan ayaa lagu yiri xukun xumidaa markaas ayuu yiri ma xukun xumi ee waxaad ogaan doontaan markii Mareexaan iyo Midga idiin taliyaan. Markaas ayaa la waydiiyay oo see noqonaysaa waxa uu yiri; afartan rati markii la isku xariiriyo hadana kan u horeeya dabada lowgu xiro kii u dambeeyay maxaa ka imaanaya ayuu yiri? Waxay ugu jawaabeen waa wareer iyo walaac saas ayuu noqonayaa xukunkoodo ,waana la arkay hogaankii Siyaad Barre iyo Cali Samatar waqtigoodi.

[DawladSade]

^Nayaa (Q_Q) Saydka ha masabidan ma xishoonayso labo wajiilo yahay.


Saydku boqol waxood ayuu ka yidhi Mareexaan kuligoodna way qoran yihiine.

[_V_gYaL_]

..^ Ciribtaa go'dayee caruurtii qurbaha ku dhashay, kusoo koray kuna soo barbaaray hadaa tahay hadaba iga leexo. Bax kuwii kaa weynaa keen adiga kula xaajoon mayo. Hadi kale oradoo maamo soo wareeysoo car yaan lagugu qosliin, Oh you cant ileen xarashaa loo haya cidahaaga. Allow garacnimo naga kori!

[DawladSade]

Dhila qooqday wakhti uma hayo !

[_V_gYaL_]

^ www.help-find-my-daddy.com

[DawladSade]

^ www.my-single-mom-habar-gablantay-azz-needs-a-man.com