Library Weekly

On 18 August 2022, Somali poet, philosopher and songwriter, Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame died in Hargeisa at the age of 79. Born in 1943 in Togdheer, he is known to Somalis as 'Hadraawi', a name meaning ‘the master or father of speech’.

Hadraawi has composed more than 70 lyric songs and 200 epic poems. His early work was widely broadcast, set to music and performed by leading singers. As the social and political criticism in his poems increased, their broadcasting was stopped and in 1973 Siad Barre’s regime imprisoned Hadraawi for five years. Following release, Hadraawi orchestrated debate through the popular local form of ‘chain’ poems and his strong new work, composed in secret, was memorised and passed from person to person.

Leaving his homeland to join the Somali National Movement based in Ethiopia, he became the voice of resistance and self-determination and wrote one of his great poems, ‘Gudgude’, a social vision. Experience of exile and time in the Somali diaspora in London (1993-2001) inspired another masterpiece, the 800-verse ‘Dabo Huwan’. He later returmed home and lectured at the University of Burco. In 2004, Hadraawi ravelled throughout Somalia on a “peace march” urging warring parties to stop the violence. He was awarded the Prince Claus Award for his contributions to peace through poetry.

(Source: Prince Claus Fund Award)

Selected publications

Hal ka haleel : sooyaalka Hadraawi iyo suugaantiisa : daabacaaddii labaad iyo maansooyinkii dambe / Maxamed Baashe X. Xasan. [Place of publication not identified] : Garanuug, 2018

So at one with you : an anthology of modern poetry in Somali = Bulshoy Ma Is Baran Lahayn : Ururin Maansooyin Soomaali Ah Oo Waayahan Tisqaaday / W.N. Herbert [and others]. - Pisa, Italy : Ponte Invisible ; Hargeysa, Somaliland : Redsea-online.com Cultural Foundation ; London : The Poetry Translation Center Ltd. : Kayd Somali Arts and Culture, [2018]

Halyeeyadii hantay himaladooda / Cabdijbaar Aadan Cabdi-Qarni. - Hargeysa, Somaliland : Sagaljet Publications, 2017

Diiwaanka siinley : silsiladdii ay kacaanka isa seegeen / Yuusuf Cismaan Cabdile. - Hargeysa, Somaliland : Sagajet Publications, [2016]

Somali oral poetry and the failed she-camel nation state : a critical discourse analysis of the Deelley poetry debate (1979-1980) / Ali Mumin Ahad. - New York : Peter Lang Publishing Inc., cop. 2015

Waayo-sheeg : taariikhda iyo suugaanta Somaliland / Muusa Carab Obsiiye. - [Somalia?] : KAAH Publishers, January 2015

Maxamed Ibraahin Warsame 'Hadraawi' : the man and the poet. Volume 1 / Maxamed Ibraahim Warsama [and others]. - Pisa, Italy : Ponte Invisibile, Redsea-online.com, [2013]

Aan ooyee albaabka ii xidha / Maxamed Xirsi Guuleed. - Stockholm : [Maxamed Xirsi Guuleed Abdibashir], 2012

The worldly and the unwordly in Jacayl Dhiig Ma Lago Qoray by Maxamed Ibraahim Warsame 'Hadraawi' / Martin Orwin.
In: Research in African literatures, 2006, Vol.37 (3), p.15-31

An anthology of Somali poetry / B.W. Andrzejewski, Sheila Andrzejewski. - Bloomington, Ind. [etc.] : Indiana University Press, 1993

Maxamed Ibraahin Warsame 'Hadraawi' reads 'Clarity' (2013)

Timeline of Somalian poets via DBpedia and Wikidata