TThe British Broadcasting Corporation’s Somali Service theme song is one of the most popular and well-known sounds for people in Somalia and the diaspora. It has a whistling rhythm and melody, making it authoritative and catchy. The words that follow the music haven’t changed in over 60 years. “Harukaniwa BBC – this is the BBC.”
But hidden beneath the somber acoustics, the lyrics originally written for this music (albeit unused) are deeply anti-colonial, with Somalis appearing on British radio stations. It’s a fact that was intentionally designed to remind you every time you listen to the instrumental. In essence, this theme is a free advertisement of anti-colonialism on the colonial airwaves, an impassioned declaration and a call to attention to the general public.
It was in 1957 that the BBC asked Radio Hargeisa, now Somaliland’s state broadcaster, to find a theme song for its recently launched service to Somalia. At the time, the British National Radio Service was broadcasting two news programs a week to the area. The legendary Somali composer and poet Abdullahi Karshe, who was a broadcaster on Radio Hargeisa at the time, provided them with his own songs but deleted the lyrics and hid the real message of rebellion against British rule. He offered an instrumental version of the song to unsuspecting BBC managers.
Karche’s works express a yearning for freedom and a hope for rightful ownership of the land. It is a powerful expression and a yearning for self-mastery. The first line of the lyrics is:
Dakkan Dawakayaa,
Drukuda Dunayaa,
Haday you didyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyday,
Arahayo, Dib
This is translated as: “These people cry out for their land. If they stand up for it, God grant them.”
BBC Somali Broadcasting was intended to counter the influence of Egyptian Broadcasting, which was popular in Somalia at the time and promoted anti-colonialism and autonomy sentiments.
The British did not take into account the Somalis’ resourcefulness and love of complex and expressive language arts.
Somalis are an oral society, a traditional way of maintaining social cohesion and passing on wisdom from generation to generation. We are also news lovers and this is what the British occupiers discovered and utilized on the BBC’s Somali service.
What the British did not take into account was the Somalis’ resourcefulness, honed through oral tradition, and their love of complex and expressive language arts.
For example, Somali poetry can be deeply encoded with meanings hidden in the layers of words.
So when Kalshe was requested to write a theme song for the BBC, he saw it as an opportunity to weave in an anti-British colonial message that Somali listeners would immediately understand. His subterfuge was easy to decipher, and the lyrics were well known as the song has been reproduced in all its glory elsewhere.
He named the song “Araweelo’s Gait” and gave it an even more rebellious twist. Alawiro is a mythical figure in Somali folklore, a powerful queen who ruled a largely matrilineal society. A strong, cunning and highly intelligent woman, she is a champion of independence in the Somali story.
Britain may have since grown in influence across the Horn of Africa, making the BBC a popular source of news and information for Somalis, but its signature song remains the same 67 years later. “These people are crying out for their land. If they stand up for it, God grant them.”
Mohamed Hilmoge is a Kenyan-Somali journalist based in Mogadishu, Somalia.
