Abdullahi Qarshe

Abdullahi Qarshe (, ) (1924–1994) was a Somali musician, poet and playwright known as the "Father of Somali music". In 1957 he wrote and composed the Somali National Anthem, Qolobaa Calankeed.

Biography Early life Qarshe was born in 1924 in the Somali expatriate community in Moshi, Tanzania. He belonged to the Mousa Arreh subdivision of the Habar Yoonis sub clan of Garhajis Isaaq that mainly inhabits the Togdheer region in north Somalia (de facto Somaliland ). Before migrating to Tanzania, his family was based in the town of Maydh, Sanaag region in north of Somalia, where they were the keepers of the tomb of Shaykh Ishaaq, the common progenitor of the wider Isaaq clan.

In 1931, at the behest of his family, he left Tanzania and settled in Aden, Yemen for his education, where he subsequently memorized the entire Quran.

Heellooy Qarshe introduced a new and shorter form of Heello by combining traditional Somali poetry with song. In the 1940s he created his first song Ka ka'ay (Arise). Qarshe utilized many of his Heello songs to express pro-independence and anti-colonial sentiments. In tribute to Patrice Lumumba he wrote the song Lumumba ma noole mana dhimane (Lumumba is neither alive nor dead) in 1960 . In 1957 he composed the current Somali National Anthem Qoloba Calankeeda waa cayn (Every nation has its own unique flag). In 1955 Qarshe founded the Walaalo Hargeisa troupe which performed various plays around then British Somaliland, one of them being Soomaalidii Hore iyo Somaalidii dambe (Somalis past and present). Qarshe's 1961 song Aqoon la'aan waa iftiin la'aan(to be without knowledge is to be without light) was the signature tune of Radio Mogadishu. In addition, Qarshe was a member of the pioneering Somali musical ensemble Waaberi and would influence nearly all subsequent Heellooy.