Abdullahi Qarshe [SEP] date of death
Abdullahi Qarshe
Abdullahi Qarshe (, ) (1924–1994) was a Somali musician, poet and playwright known as the "Father of Somali music". In 1957 he wrote and composed the Somali National Anthem, Qolobaa Calankeed.
Biography.
Qarshe was born in 1924 in the Somali expatriate community in Moshi, Tanzania. He belonged to the Habar Yoonis sub clan of (Garhajis) Isaaq that mainly inhabits Sanaag region of Somaliland. In 1931, at the behest of his family, he left Tanzania and settled in Aden
, Yemen for his education. It is in Aden where Abdullahi had his first encounter with cinema and radio playing western films and Indian and Arabic music, which inspired him to buy a lute to accomplish his new goal of creating music in the Somali language. He was married to Adaiya Qarshe whom he had four children with, Rukiyo Qarshe, Safiyo Qarshe, Anab Qarshe and Mahad Qarshe.
Qarshe, along with other first generation artists such as Ali Feiruz and Mohamed Nahari, was among the pioneers of modern Somali music.