Biography
Abdullahi Qarshe ( Somali: Cabdilahi Qarshe (1924–1994) was a Somali musician, poet and playwright, known as the "Father of Somali music".
He was born in 1924 in the Somali expatriate community in Moshi, Tanzania. Before immigrating to Tanzania, his family was based in Maydh town, Sanaag district in eastern Somaliland. In 1931, he was sent to school in Aden, Yemen, where Abdullahi, when he grew up, bought a lute and began the effort to create music in the Somali language. He evolved into an innovative self-taught musician, who used a wide variety of instruments including guitar, piano, oud. He also became known for his poems.
In the 1940s he created his first songs, in several of them he expressed his pro-independence and anti-colonial sentiments. In 1955 he founded the Walaalo Hargeisa troupe which staged various plays in Somalia. In 1957 he composed the current National Anthem of Somalia Qoloba Calankeeda waa cayn (Each nation has its own unique flag). In 1960, as a tribute to Patrice Lumumba he wrote the song Lumumba ma noole mana dhimine (Lumumba is neither alive nor dead ). His song Aqoon la'aan waa aqoon la'aan (to be without knowledge is to be without light) became the theme song of Radio Mogadishu.
Qarshe was married and had 4 children. He died in 1994 in England.