Haymanot and Halgan’s Music: Remedy for the Horn of Africa Conflict

One Sunday evening, feeling lonely and watching the horrifying and gruesome TV images of the war in Eastern Congo, my thoughts wandered to the plight of the African people and the agonies and misery they are going through since the end of the colonial era.

Of particular concern to me was the tense and at times volatile Horn of Africa region where my country Somaliland, lies.  Feeling low and almost despairing that things will change for the better in that region, I tried to soothe my mind by listening to my favorite music. I played a video clip, and the melodious and sweet voice of Sahra Halgan soon eased my mood and freed me from the Horn and the images. I switched to a Sudanese channel and found Haymanot Girma and Nada Ghala’a an Ethiopian and Sudanese female artists singing in Arabic and Haymanot singing in Somali and Amharic.  In addition to their melodious voices and appealing rhythm she was as beautiful as Sahra.

The song was a love one. In the Somali part I understood, she’s telling her soul mate to come to her. The rest in Amharic I could vaguely comprehend she wanted to convince him that Somalis and Habashas are siblings that lived together peacefully in one country for generations. The comforting song and Haymanot’s presence in Khartoum had driven me back to the holy city of Harar, where she originates and its Muslim spiritual Sufi teachings of compassion and philanthropic services to humanity it nurtured, Harar, where people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds lived peacefully together and in complete harmony.

It reminded me of the life and wisdom of the great Muslim Sufi Mawlana Jalaladdin Rumi, whose work and poetry we still cherish and how he advocated for tolerance and love for the human race regardless of their faith. I wondered why as the followers of the Islamic faith that Mawlana believed in couldn’t love our neighbours and be the first to extend the olive branch. I am sure the Sufi teachings and culture in Harar were what cultivated the culture and good environment conducive to the brotherly co-existence of the diverse Ethiopian communities. This secret can be utilized to pacify this region where I was feeling absolutely so hopeless of its stability earlier.

I also wondered why the Arabs are always anti Ethio-Somali understanding and co-existence. Why are they always preaching to the Somalis that Ethiopia is anti Islam? Is it not true that nearly half of the Ethiopians are Muslims? May be the Arab world has a hidden agenda. What about the close affinity of the peoples of Ethiopia and Sudan?

I have always been aware that Sudanese and Ethiopian music was popular in both countries regardless of the masses’ understanding of the lyrics. And this is among the reasons that convinced me music could be utilized as means of enhancing peace and eradicating hate among the societies. That day I dreamt of a day when Sahra Halgan and Haymanot Girma will together perform in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland and I am confident that this will happen in the near future, for such event is more appropriate in Hargeisa where people understand Amharic and Ethiopian music is popular.

 The people of Somaliland regard Ethiopia as their second home. It was where they found safety when they were fleeing from the oppression of the regime that massacred thousands of people. The reception and peace they found in Ethiopia reminds them the migration of the companions of prophet Mohamed peace and blessings be upon him to that country when they could not live in their home: Mecca. The first Muslims found Ethiopia, as the holy prophet confirmed, under a just king in whose kingdom freedom was respected and were able to practice and preach their new faith. This was the first foothold of Islam in the African soil and with out the late king Negus may Allah be pleased with him, it would have been difficult for Islam to peacefully spread in this continent.

For this region to recover from the man made, age old hostility that hindered the development and the betterment of the lives of its people, the intellectuals and academics of the region need to take a bold step and call for peace building and cultural discourse which may lay a cornerstone to integration and cultural understanding between the peoples of the Horn. Music is one of such steps that can bring the populace together and eventually relieve them of the hate as it really did among the Sudanese and Ethiopians.

Halgan and Haymanot are just a sample of the music and poetry fraternity in the region whose work can be used to bridge the cultures and the people of the Horn of Africa region, in which Somaliland and Ethiopia should be the first. Haymanot sang: Waryaahee kaalay, kaalaylaylay jacaylkaygii kaalay…………………………….  Come, come, come to me my love, com to me………..  Reciprocally I am singing to Haymanot: come, come, come to Hargeisa, Haymanot come, with the hope that this will mark a new era and the beginning of the end of the mistrust among the people of the Horn. Amen.