Magool (Xaliimo Khaliif Cumar)

Who was she?

Magool, born Halima Khalif Omar, was a Somali singer (Wikipedia, Magool). She earned the title Hooyadii Fanka, the "Mother of Artistry" (same source). Music in Africa names her first among the country's greatest women singers (Music in Africa, "Somali music through the ages"). This Is Africa ranks her among the most popular Somali women singers of all time (This Is Africa, 4 November 2020).

Early years

She was born on 2 May 1948 in Dhuusamareeb, in the Galgaduud region (Wikipedia). Some sources give Beledweyne. She had five siblings (same source). Her family is Hawiye (same source).

First songs

In 1959 she joined a small band in Mogadishu (Wikipedia). The same year she moved to Hargeisa and sang with that city's musicians (same source). The songwriter Yusuf Haji Adan named her Magool, meaning "flower" (same source). She returned to Mogadishu in the mid-1960s, and her fame kept growing (same source).

The great poets' voice

She sang works by Hadraawi, Ali Sugulle, Hassan Sheikh Mumin and Hussein Aw-Farah Dubbad (Wikipedia). Her songs include "Shimbiryahow Ma Duushaa?", with words by Hadraawi (same source). She sang duets with Hasan Adan Samatar and Mohamed Ahmed Kuluc (same source). She could learn a whole album in a few hours (same source). See Somali music.

Songs for the nation

In the 1970s she sang well-known patriotic songs (Wikipedia). By the late 1970s she also sang religious songs critical of the military government (same source). She then lived in exile by her own choice until 1987 (same source).

Mogadishu and Magool

Her 1987 homecoming concert was called "Mogadishu and Magool" (Wikipedia). More than 160,000 people reportedly came to the city's stadium (same source). Wikipedia calls it the most successful concert in Somali history (same source).

Death

She died of breast cancer in a hospital in Amsterdam on 19 March 2004 (Wikipedia). She was the aunt of the musician K'naan, who remembered her singing to him as a child (Wikipedia, K'naan). See Somalis in the Netherlands.

In short

A singer who performed the work of the leading poets of her time.