MARYAM MURSAL: SOMALI LEGENDARY MUSIC, VOCALS AND COMPOSER IN REAL WORLD RECORDS

Maryam Mursal was born in January 1, 1950; grew up in Somalia in a Muslim family with four daughters and has been active in somali music since 1980s.

As a teenager, she broke with tradition and began singing professionally in Mogadishu. She performed in nightclubs and her brand of music, featuring a mix of blues, soul, Somali and Arabic influences, and known as Somali jazz, became popular across the country. Performing primarily solo, she also collaborated with Waaberi, a 300-member music and dance troupe associated with the Somali National Theatre. Later, after having criticized Somalia's then ruling military government, she was banned from singing for two years, and made her living driving a taxi.

During the subsequent civil war in her homeland, Mursal and her five children moved to neighbouring Djibouti, where she found asylum in the Danish embassy. It was this odyssey that provided the germ of her solo recording The Journey, with guitars, sequencers and back-up vocals from Peter Gabriel.

THE SITUATION OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED MINORITIES IN SOMALILAND AND SOMALIA.

Somalia has witnessed over two decades of conflict, violence, human rights violations and natural disasters, all of which have triggered repeated waves of displacement. Although the first half of 2013 saw less new displacement than in previous years, there are still an estimated 1.1 million Somalis who are internally displaced. Most IDPs continue to live in dire conditions in protracted displacement, and prospects for durable solutions remain distant for many of them. For more information please visit: http://www.internal-displacement.org/africa/somalia/2013/solutions-for-idps-revealed-as-key-for-future-peace-and-stability-in-somalia/

EVEN IF LIFE SHOWS THEM HUNDRED REASONS TO CRY, WITHIN A FEW SECONDS THEY SHOW LIFE THOUSAND REASONS TO SMILE

LIFE TASTES SWEET IN CHILDHOOD; NO MATTER HOW TIME GETS ROUGH, WHEN NEEDS SURROUND THEM, WHAT KINDS OF CHALLENGES TOMORROW SHALL HAVE. ALL THEY DO IS HAPPINESS. EVEN IF LIFE SHOWS THEM HUNDRED REASONS TO CRY, WITHIN A FEW SECONDS THEY SHOW LIFE THOUSAND REASONS TO SMILE.

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