There is far more to Somalia then pirates and refugees. In fact, culture-wise, the country is often referred to as a nation of poets

Recently, a good Somali friend had sparked my interest in the music from her country. I went to a performance at "Somali Week" in Bethnal Green, with an especial interest in finding out how the British culture has influenced Somali music. I had no idea what a deep impact the performance of Aar Maanta would have on me.

Not speaking Somali, the play that began the evening was incomprehensible to me and so Aar Maanta's performance was a welcome surprise. He sang mostly in Somali, but I was able to relate to the music despite having never heard of him at the time. I wasn’t the only one to be enthralled by the unique cosmopolitan mix of African and Western sounds; the whole room was captivated: swaying, singing and clapping along. I liked the music; the melodies were catchy, the rhythms danceable, the message confident. Aar played with a band which had quite a 'normal' set-up; apart from a djembe, all the instruments were western. He introduced the members by name and country of origin – which emphasised their different nationalities, making an indirect statement that Somalis are not the only immigrants in London. A few days later, my friend told me her teenage sister nearly cried when she heard that we had seen Aar Maanta play, as she was crazy about him.

Poets and singers have always been key figures in the unusually rich oral literature of Somalia and so poets and singers have always been key figures in the unusually rich oral literature of the country. The lack of prevalence of the mass media meant that they had the prime function of transmitting information. They were given names such as Queen of Music (Magool) and King of the People (Hassan Samantar), and were honoured for their individuality. A popular genre concerning love and beauty has always been sung at weddings, and under the censorship of Mohamed Siad Barre's regime, protest poetry often disguised as love songs was circulated on cassettes. The voice used to be accompanied by percussion (often a petrol tin drum), hand clapping, the flute, horns and the oud (traditional lute). Nowadays, much of the background music is electronic and digital. Radical changes occurred after WWII through the influence of radio and colonial exposure to western music. Music became separated from poetry, more western instruments were used, and every song now had its own individual melody rather than that set by its genre.

Like tens of thousand other Somalis, Aar Maanta fled to the UK when the political and economical situation in his country became intolerable. According to Aar; "If you wanna do something for a community that is uprooted and that is going through a lot of upheavals, you need to start from the bottom". Aware of the importance of roots for his displaced community, in 2009 he recorded his debut album Hiddo & Dhaqaan, meaning Culture and Tradition. Apart from K'naan, Aar Maanta is one of the few Somali artists who is able to give voice to the youth in his community. In his songs he covers current political issues, but also sings love songs, whilst relating these to his audience via popular R&B sounds. I spoke to Aar Maanta after the concert in Bethnal Green, where he explained he aspires to "bridge the gap between young Somalis and their traditional music...it would be one of my greatest achievements". He does achieve this through an innovative musical style where western hip-hop and R&B meets traditional Somali music. He plays the oud and includes songs of a traditional style such as Uur Hooyo by the famous oud player Hodeidi.

Aar also he follows a strict, time-honoured poetic system where sentences start with the same letter and rhyme. Aar mentioned that in an earlier collaboration with other Somali artists, his music "didn't really follow the system of writing, so people didn't really think it was worth respecting". So his decision to refer to tradition makes the music more recognisable and respectable. By recording in Somali rather than Enlgish, he is sacrificing a wider audience, but it is of more value to him to deepen the connection with his people through his music. However, his music is not universally admired by the Somalian community; some dissent is religion-based, views tend to be more extreme in the Diaspora then at 'home', others criticize "that I modernise and don't stick enough to a tradition". This explains Aar Maanta's surprised response when I told him that when I talked about him with my friend, her old aunt sitting in the corner started singing one of his songs (Saafi) . He laughed and said it was a big achievement. He seemed honestly proud.

Aar Maanta is critical of new Somali artists; "a lot of young singers [in London] aren't really developing, they are just singing the same old songs". It is obvious that Aar is trying to pursue his ideals; to help his troubled people through music; "To try to make sense of what is going on and to speak up about injustice, and give people hope...to make people proud of who they are". His ideals relate to the traditional view in the olden days where poets were the main broadcasters of news, and that a good poet was influential enough to stop conflicts. Praise for his work is found everywhere, take a comment left on one of his Youtube videos; "Catchy and insightful...Frankly, I didn't think we [Somalis] had this much left in us."

Despite the language barrier, it is very possible Aar Maanta could gain a wider audience in the World Music arena. His use of live musicians rather than digital backing tracks makes this more likely, and also enriches his creative experience; "I learn so much from the guys I play with, they're really good musicians, so it's better for me". He explained that he is one of the few Somalis to perform with a band and plans to record his next album this way. Personally, I look forward to hearing more from Aar Maanta: he is an inspiring and promising artist who has successfully created a new style music genre that merges his 'old' and 'new' cultures together. It is genuinely innovative in style and not surprising it has been so warmly embraced.

More info at www.aarmaanta.com

StarAfrica.com