Yamyam
Abdulkadir Hersi Siyad "عبد قادر حرس سياد "يميم | |
|---|---|
| "Soomaali baan ahay" "Soomaali baan ahay" | |
| Born | Abdulkadir Hersi Siyad 1945 Dhusa Mareb, Somalia |
| Pen name | Yamyam |
| Occupation | poet, songwriter |
| Nationality |  Somalia |
| Citizenship | Somali |
| Alma mater | Lafole University |
| Subject | patriotism, love, faith, mortality |
| Notable works | I am Somali, Tawaadac, Isa Sudhan, Digo Rogosho, Hooya la'aanta |
| Spouse | Ambiya C. Jaamac |
| Children |
|
Life and Career
1 Early Years
2 New Playwrights wıth New Somali Orthography
Awards 1 First Poetry Competition in Hargaisa
2 Life in Mogadishu
Moving to America
7 Death Poetry and Public Services
1 Researcher and Contributor at SNAC 2 Influencing Somali Society and Politics 3 Civil War Years and Arta Peace Conference
Works
External Links
Life and Career
Abdulkadir Hersi Yamyam, full name Abdulkadir Hersi Siyad (Yamyam) was a famous Somali poet and playright. Yamyam’s mother was Canoof Ibraahim.
Yamyam started attendending Madarasa at age four and he finished studying the Quran by age eight. Yamyam was born and educated in Dhuusa Mareeb, central Somalia, and moved to the north-west of the country to pursue further education and produced hıs first work when he was the tender age of 18.
Early Years
Yamyam (born Abdulkadir Hersi Siyad in the city of Dhusa Mareb, Galgadud Region, Somalia in 1945) ([Cabdiqaadir Xirsi Siyaad (Yamyam)] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help), Arabic: "عبد قادر حرس سياد "يميم) is a prominent Somali poet and playwrite.
Yamyam was one of the main contributors for the [[Somali National Academy of Culture (SNAC), also known as the Somali National Academy of Arts, Sciences and Literature. Abdulkadir Hersi Siyad, better known by his nickname Yamyam, died in a car accident in Columbus, Ohio, United States aged 60.[1]
New Playwrights wıth New Somali Orthography
With the new Somali orthography in 1972, Yamyam and Hadrawi became members of a minority Somali poets who pendown their works as oppossed to poets producing volumes of poems in the traditional Somali oral literature.
Yamyam was recognized as an influential Somali poet and playwright whose creative output did not wane following the state's collapse and subsequent civil war which continued for a decade and a half. He lived in Mogadishu and continued to write poems and articles for Somali websites and newsletters on the misfortunes befallen on Somalia which was one of Africa's strongest countries during post-colonial era.
Awards
First Poetry Competition in Hargaisa
Yamyam was the recepient of the first academic style Somali Poetry Competition held in Hargaisa in 1972. On Somali National Patriotic Programme Series, a 12 part series which aired on June 2013, Aamin Media Limited, placed Yamyam at Episode #8, right next to Abdullahi Suldan Tima Ade,another great Somali poet. [2] The program profiles 12 great patriots and military persons who lived from mid 1400 to contemporary Somali heroes. Yamyam, as most other gifted entertainers used his poetic talents to highlight the misfortunes of that befell on his fellow Somalis as the result of the civil war and the insuing chaos. He had a sense of humour that attracted both the young and old across Somali society.
Suldan Tima Cade’s patriotic poems throughout the 1950 to 1970s were extended byYamyam who continued the patriot legacy wıth new interpretations of social and politics aspects in Somali life and adding his footprints on Somali Literature from early 1970s until his death in 2005.
Moving to Mogadishu
After winning first of its kind poetry competition in Hargeisa in 1972, Yamyam moved to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. He immediately found a job at the newly created National Folklore, Arts, Culture, Literature, which had such important cultural centers such as Somali National Theatre.
At his tenture at SCSC, he wrote many poems, plays and other literatry pieces. He worked for several government ministries and contributed to on air radio programs such as Radio Mogadishu and Radio Hargeisa and higher learning institutins, primarily, Somali National University at Gaheyr and Lafoole.
Poetry and Public Services
Researcher and Contributor at SNAC
Yamyam was engaged in the Somali National folklore and poetry circles for nearly four decades. At the height of the Somali Mililtary Revolution, Yamyam wrote poems directly accusing the government of attempting to create new social programs while much needed social programs lay in abandonment. One such poem was ' Digo rogasho' which he wrote in October 1984. In the early 1970s he went to the capital, Mogadishu, where he joined Waaberi (literally Dawn), a troupe of singers, dancers and playwrights. His genius at writing lyrics and poems was soon recognised by his contemporaries and his songs were performed on Radio Mogadishu.
Influencing Somali Society and Politics
Abdulkadir Yamyam co-authored with Ahmed Farah Ali Idaajaa for a popular play called Dabkuu Shiday Darwiishkii (The Fire that the Dervish Lit) about the anti-colonial resistance waged by the Somali Dervishes under the leadership of Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan from 1900 to 1920. [3]
Farah Idaja wrote, that, Yamyam's play, Fire that the Dervis Lit, "Dabdkuu Shiday Darwiishkii" where the play's first scene depicts imagined scenes from European powers' confrence in Barlin during 1884-1885 Africa colonial divisions. Although, Yamyam was a patriot, he often reflected European colonial past wrong doings from 1884 Africa divisions to the 1894 "Tripartite Accord" from Britain, Italy and Ethiopia.
His poetry reflected radicalism and dislike for the misuse of power and misappropriation of public funds of the toppled regime in Somalia in the 1970s and 1980s. Mind you, Yamyam was only four uncles removed to President Siad Barre and he was not easy on him- this came to light when later during the civil war he remained in Mogadishu despite his closeness to overthrawn president.
Civil War Years and Arta Peace Conference
Before he moved this August to the US to rejoin his family, who had settled there after the civil war in Somalia, Yam Yam (varayıng spellıng) lived in Mogadishu. Unfazed by the lawlessness. Throughout the 1990s decadeö at the heıght of two-decade long Somali civıl war, he did not align himself with any of the tribal factions in Somalia. He felt a moral obligation to promote peace in his troubled country.
Film documentry honoring Yamyam’s literary work is under way to make his creative legacy available to the public in the form of an anthology by Mohamed Hassan "Garwaax" in UK.
Yamyam is survived by his wife, four sons and two daughters. Rage, the eldest son of Yamyam is ın his own right a poet. He was one of the main entertainers of the 2007 annual Somali Community gathering honoring youngers who achieve great academic success. Unlike most Somali poets, Yamyam pened down all his literary work starting from early on before he won the first academically conducted poetry competition held in Hargaisa. "I am Somali" [4] In print material, the poet's name has varying spellings for his nickname, Yamyam or Yam Yam. Many people believe Yamyam was a long ago deceased poet at the time of Hooyaaleey style Somali poetry during the mid eighteenth cenetury at time of Raage Ugaas and others because of indepth content which he is unique for in his field as a great poet coupled with the academic work which he penned down, for example, his first play co-authoring with Ahmed Farah Ali 'Idaja', using the newly created Somali orthography. Ordinarillay, Somali poets produce volumes of oral literature full of tribal feude but Yam Yam was an academic type, thus he refrained from using poetry and plays to "side with any of opposing sides" [5] although he remained in Mogadishu throughought the 1990s when Mogadishu was the epicenter of the Somali civil war. In 2001, Yam Yam moved to Nairobi, Kenya to settling in Nairobi.
While contributing to volumes of poems and dozens of plays for a span of nearly forty years, Yamyam is credited with numerous contributions and collaborations during the height of the civil war in Somalia from 1991 to his death in Columbus Ohio in 2005. Yamyam was greatly appreicated at his appearances at the year-lond Arta Peace Conference, held in Arta, Djabuti.
Yamyam grew up in Hargaisa but he remained in Mogadishu for much of his working life inlcuding a decade and a half, a period when the Somali civil war years were at climax. When it came to show his patriotism, Yamyam gave hours of poetry entertainment and a dose of reality for the year-lond Arta Somali Peace Conference.
During the Arta Peace Conference, on the occassion of June 26th Northern Somalia Indepedence Day, He reminded every Somali that, he no longer celebrated independence days as Somalia "lay in ruins.", [6] since the choas and lawlessness in the capital Mogadishu.
Awards
In 1972, Yamyam won the first Academic Poetry Competition held in Hargaisa.
Works
- The Fire that the Dervish Lit ("Dabkuu Shiday Darwiishkii ")
- I am Somali (Soomai baan ahay)
- The First of May: Congratulations 1975 (Kowda Maajo: Hambalyo 1975)
- Caku Geellu muu Dido!
- A poem of praise (Gabay ammaan ah)
- Is it a dream? Is it reality? (Ma riyaa ma run baa)
- Oness of God (Tawxiid) 1984
==External Links==