Maryam Mursal (born January 1, 1950) is a
SomaliSomalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic language family...
composer and vocalist.
Mursal grew up in
SomaliaSomalia , officially the Republic of Somalia and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is a country located in the Horn of Africa...
in a
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
family with four daughters. As a teenager, she broke with tradition and began singing professionally in
MogadishuMogadishu is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital.Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries....
. She performed in nightclubs and her brand of music, featuring a mix of
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
,
soulSoul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
,
SomaliSomalia has the distinction of being one of only a handful of countries in Africa that are composed almost entirely of one ethnic group, the Somalis. Traditional bands like Waaberi and Horseed have gained a small following outside of the country. Others, like Ahmed Cali Cigal, Maryam Mursal, have...
and Arabic influences, and known as
Somali jazz, became popular across the country.
Maryam Mursal (born January 1, 1950) is a
SomaliSomalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic language family...
composer and vocalist.
Biography
Mursal grew up in
SomaliaSomalia , officially the Republic of Somalia and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is a country located in the Horn of Africa...
in a
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
family with four daughters. As a teenager, she broke with tradition and began singing professionally in
MogadishuMogadishu is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital.Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries....
. She performed in nightclubs and her brand of music, featuring a mix of
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
,
soulSoul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
,
SomaliSomalia has the distinction of being one of only a handful of countries in Africa that are composed almost entirely of one ethnic group, the Somalis. Traditional bands like Waaberi and Horseed have gained a small following outside of the country. Others, like Ahmed Cali Cigal, Maryam Mursal, have...
and Arabic influences, and known as
Somali jazz, became popular across the country. Performing primarily solo, she also collaborated with
WaaberiWaaberi was a Somali musical supergroup.-History:The troupe was established by members of the Radio Artists Association. It was supported by the Somali government as part of the Somali National Theater, and made tours throughout several countries in Africa, including Egypt and Sudan. After a coup...
, a 300-member music and dance troupe associated with the Somali National Theatre. Later, after having criticized Somalia's then ruling military government, she was banned from singing for two years, and made her living driving a taxi.
During the subsequent civil war in her homeland, Mursal and her five children moved to neighboring
DjiboutiDjibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. On the other side of the Red Sea, on...
, where she found asylum in the Danish embassy. It was this odyssey that provided the germ of her solo recording
The Journey, with
guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
s,
sequencerA sequencer is something that either generates or analyzes a sequence, or triggers events in timed fashion. The term may mean or refer to:* Sequencer, a 1976 electronic music album by Larry Fast* Sequencer , a 1996 musical album by Covenant...
s and back-up vocals from
Peter GabrielPeter Brian Gabriel is an English musician and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career. More recently he has focused on producing and promoting world music and pioneering...
.
Mursal still lives abroad, now residing in
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
. She has toured
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
with
WaaberiWaaberi was a Somali musical supergroup.-History:The troupe was established by members of the Radio Artists Association. It was supported by the Somali government as part of the Somali National Theater, and made tours throughout several countries in Africa, including Egypt and Sudan. After a coup...
and appeared with
Nina SimoneEunice Kathleen Waymon, better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist....
. Her work has been produced by Peter Gabriel's
Real WorldReal World Records is a record label started in 1989 by Peter Gabriel to help promote world music.The label grew up alongside the success of the WOMAD festivals and Peter Gabriel's exploration of music from other cultures, and helped push world music into the general public's consciousness during...
record label.
Quotes
- "Traditional music is very important to me but I was also listening to people like Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He brought a soulful sound to country music and pop standards through his Modern Sounds recordings, as well as a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes called the "definitive version of...
, The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music...
, everything."
- "We as artists are responsible if something wrong is taking place in our society. It's very important for us to speak up, even though we may have to do it with a double tongue. We have to speak out for our people."
- "I was always the first woman. I was the first woman singing Somali jazz, I was the first star, and I was the first to drive a taxi! I was the first to drive a lorry, and now I'm the first woman from Somalia to have an international record."
External links