Monday, August 22, 2011
Growing up during a civil war imbued K’naan, born Keinan Abdi Warsame, with a fierce love for his native land and a desire to give a voice to the average Somali. On Sunday, he made the trek back home, touring Mogadishu’s Banadir Hospital, where he visited malnourished children.
The United Nations has declared Somalia the scene of the world’s worst famine in a generation. Tens of thousands of people are already believed to have died and the United Nations says things will get worse as food aid fails to reach the 3.2 million citizens who need it.
Famine refugees at the hospital, who recognized the musician, tried to hug him or shake his hand as he walked past.
“I came to Somalia to see the situation here and give any donation I have to the people and anything else available,” he said, speaking in Somali. “I will do all I can to help my people in Somalia.”
The socially conscious musician often rhymes about the streets of Mogadishu, where he spent his childhood. Before skyrocketing to global success with Wavin’ Flag, the 2010 World Cup anthem touting Africa’s strength and struggles, K’naan, 33, was an indie musician little-known outside of Canada. The soccer connection not only bolstered sales of his 2009 album Troubadour but it also gave him a bigger platform for his efforts to spread awareness about African issues.
K’naan’s ties to Africa run deep and he was profoundly affected by his extensive travels throughout the continent last year, visiting some 25 countries.
“I didn’t encounter despair, I encountered vastness, from the majestic mountains in Swaziland to the incredible culture in Madagascar,” he told The Globe and Mail last year. “I also realized that during times of hardship, people [in Africa] look to hopeful things, to things as they wish they were, not so much the way things are … In times of war, people write love songs. That’s an important realization for me, and a beautiful one.”
Twenty years ago, K’naan and his family fled Somalia to escape the country’s civil war, eventually settling in Toronto’s Rexdale neighbourhood , which has a large Somali community. There, he learned English by copying the lyrics and imitating the diction of rap songs by artists like Nas and Rakim.
Even as a musically-inclined teenager, social commentary was part of his lyrical repertoire. Growing up in the rough-and-tumble suburb, K’naan lost many friends to murder, suicide, prison and deportation. He translated the sorrow he felt into rhythms and beats. Today, the rapper continues to write about issues close to his heart.
“Somalia is worse now than it was when I left at 13,” he wrote in a personal essay for The Globe and Mail in May, 2010. “I supposed this all means more songs.”
Somalia is one of the poorest nations in the world, a condition that the World Bank says is exacerbated by the absence of a functioning national government and the civil war, which has created insecurity in parts of the country and has prevented access to basic services and infrastructure.