question; i understand there is an area called sinai in xamar region. i've heard about this place in numerous banadiri songs. there is also an area in hargeisa called sinai in the arab side of town.......can anyone explain how this name came to be?

nuune;903688 wrote: Hargeisa Yar in jubbada hoose actually nuune, there is an area in hargeisa called jigjiga yar. the story goes it was settled (involuntarily) by a group of indigenous jigjigarians as per a demographic population exchange policy of the late Somali dictator siyaad barre. they left the area after the war years and that's how it acquired the name jigjiga.

Jacaylbaro;903561 wrote: A good friend surprised me with a bright new Canon digital camera, 16 mega pixels. ........ That means more & more photos around the continent Mashallah.

HARGEISA DEC 2012

ABDAAL TOWN 200 Animal hide/skin factory in Abdaal, Saxil Region. somaliland-chinese ownership. this factory is an environmental disaster and its been proven that the chinese operators are polluting the ceel in abaal and many people died and have been sick as result. its a worrying problem.

Berbera DEC 2012

NEW YEAR'S EVE is looking bleak. i think i'll have to do the countdown on my own. 2011 was awesome. 2010 even better.

Taleexi;903337 wrote: Tell that to the Ha-rtis in the East and you don't speak for all these people! naga daa the victim mentality sxb!

there is something of the night about these stories.....

hi theirry, i know a few NGOs who publish and give free somali books esp children stories little cigaal shidaal and dhagdheer etc. i can send you a bundle of these via DHL (you'll have cover the costs) or the next person coming/leaving hargeisa.

its not looking here on the ground.....we'll see what tomorrow brings...baal.

Today, there are an estimated three million Turks in Germany, the largest ethnic community in the country. Multiculturalism and the integration of immigrants has been a fiercely controversial topic in Germany. The 1980s and 1990s witnessed an increase in the amount of racist violence in the country, with racism appearing to increase during the economic crisis throughout the 1980s, and as a result of German reunification in 1989. Many such attacks were directed at the Turkish community. "I came to Germany in 1970. Our aim was to earn enough to buy a place back home. But unfortunately we couldn't achieve that. So we waited for our children to grow up, we waited for our children to finish school," says Ali Riza Durmus, a former wrestler. "Then we waited for them to get a job. Then we waited for our grandchildren to grow up. It's been 42 years of waiting like this." By the end of the 1980s in West Germany, the children of Turkish immigrants had begun to form gangs to protect themselves from racist attacks. Such gangs emerged across the country. The largest gang – in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin – called itself the 36 Boys, named after the old postal code of their area. The gang also included some non-Turks. The unemployment rate among Turks is double that among native Germans. Studies show that a person with a Turkish name has less chance of getting a job interview than a similarly qualified person with a German name. Today, former members of the 36 Boys are active within society helping to prevent juvenile delinquency. Now they meet under a new name – 36 Klan. The 36 Boys represent an important symbol for many young people from ethnic communities seeking to find their way in modern-day Germany. --------- recently watched this interesting documentary on AJE. there is much we could learn from their experiences - particularly their community activism. in our community, it appears the lack of leadership and the absences of role-models has induced a situation which is not conducive to our long term collective will. an entire generation of young people has been wiped out as criminals generates locked up in prison and those still within the confines of society are lacking the tools to make use of training and employment opportunities. our youngsters look towards african-american commercial rap stars as role-models and the selling of drugs as a means of survival. i worry very much.......

Che -Guevara;903101 wrote: Dear Alpha....I agree with you completely. excellent!

an excellent thread Che! made even more excellent by its aptly entitled name - Mali Music the term 'world music' is a rather ridiculous term and i'm glad to see you've avoided a seemingly easy mistake of classification, that is often made. naming an entire works of arts and subsuming it under a broad term like 'world music' is a great insult to the culture, traditions and heritage of the people of the global south. the 'world music' genre, is, I, think, an attempt to encapsulate music from various places around the world and as though everything is directly contra-distinct to WESTern music - music from more 'traditional sources’ particularly those from the lesser nodes of global networked society is 'othered', and collectively grouped together.... despite their apparent diversity and the richness they offer. surely, ‘world music’ is place-specific and unique to its places of origin? ‘world music’ musicians have been commodified as objects of desire, that puts WESTern audiences within touching distance of exotic far-flung places, how voyeuristic! similarly, it caters to the 'cultured' nouveau riche-gentrified-intelligentsia class of the WEST, who have proliferated in the last 15 to 20 years. this vicious contraction of sorts restricts plurality and choice and indeed evidently shown us how the patronising foggy 'tokenism' of the WEST, has reduced the cultural value of these works of art. furthermore, the paternalism of the overarching white cultural superstructure seeks to provide a controlled pedestal to these ‘smaller’ and ‘seldom heard voices’ to western audiences but also severely promotes and indeed propagates the mainstream WESTern music industry's manufactured BS to far flung corners of the world. in nigeria and kenyan and across the continent, ethnic works of arts are being replaced by MTV induced BS of the type we're constantly inundated with by the mediums of music in today's 21st century social network age. i suppose, the superior western production, marketing and distribution system will always eclipse ‘world music’ musician's meagre streams of opportunities but the sad reality is; the western cultural imperialist superstructure will continue to dominate music of the world by its construction of the devastating cultural hegemony regime, and indeed will continue to subsume other cultures under this 'globalisation façade'. it appears the farther a countries is from Western centres of cultural gravity, the more it’s been 'ethnicised' for consumption. music must always be considered in terms of place of origin and no matter how 'cultured' one might be, one must understand there will always be barriers of entry into other cultures. Westerners seek to have insights into other cultures through the arts and by listening to the world music of that particular country. and yet conscious cultural critics like myself appreciate and wholly understand; it doesn't make you more familiar with the said culture, it just means you like listening to the music of that country and nothing else – which this thread has demonstrated in its entirety. Malian music, we love you and appreciate your sounds.

Alpha Blondy;902975 wrote: it appears there was a mistake. vote 27 is currently null and void..... where are these scripts hadaaba? typical lazy somali scripts.....

blessed evenings of the highest regards to all, i often email friends across the world and seek their impartial non-bias advice on serious matters in life. think of it as the confession booths of the catholic church. just HONEST NON-PREJUDICED advice.....you can't really ask those closest to you in the real world because they'll give you bad advice. plus you cannot really trust them with the serious matters of life. my online buddies are really great and i have varying degrees of friendships with them....some i communicate via email, others through Skype and some i meet in real life. and you can just imagine how many online friends i have as i'm a member of 15 forums. ------- dated: 4th sept 2012 Dear --------, We've been online buddies for several years now. in that time, i've come to trust you as an honourable, wise and a good man, albeit being new age in your approaches lol. saxib, i wanted to seek your advice on a small matter which has recently occurred in my life. there is this man at work. he is a great man. i trust him 100% and have no reason to doubt him since we're good friends. we get along very well and we like each other, i'd like to think. he is from xamar but could also possibly be reer somaliland, too. i'm not sure and i haven't asked him to be honest. he holds a very senior position at my workplace and we've come to know each other this way. he started talking about marriage to me recently. i didnt mind at first and entertained his advice as any reasonable person would. about two weeks ago, he said he'd like me to meet his daughters. i was a little taken back and mumbled some nice words to him but realised he was quite serious and had been grooming me for a long time now for this project. i don't know what he sees in him that makes me worthy of meeting his daughters. earlier this week we saw each other and he came to my desk and presented two pictures. shock horror! you've guess it - his daughters. they are subaag waalahi sxb, like super beautiful, you know. i didnt like how he presented his daughters and how he was explaining what each was doing with their lives to a complete stranger but i cant fault him for this, given his earlier movements towards my direction, not being heeded. i was impressed and realised that maybe its not such bad idea meeting his daughters with him as the maxraam. i promised to meet him sometime this week and possibly may go to his house to meet the daughters and take my pick. i kinda prefer the older one as the young one's picture seemed photo-shopped. i want to ask for your advice. what should i do? should i go ahead. i do want to get married bro and raise some kids as my life is too directionless and boring. i think it would give me new sense of purpose in life, you know but i'm not sure how to proceed as this is my first actual encounter of discussing something so serious with someone else. up until now, i've never really thought of it. please share your humble advice with me and be honest in your in depth analysis of how i should proceed. your brother, Mortimer --------- they responded by saying this; If you were a girl, I'd tell you to be careful and think about things. But you're not a girl. Go for it! --------- i never went for it, in the end, because this individual really didn't give me the advise i was seeking.....shame really, those little beauties who've been a good catch. the next time, i send you a PM, it might be so serious - so give your best advise to Alpha LOOOOOOOOOL.