The nationalist icon of Somalia top ten super stars, Sado Ali Warsame,who is well respected for her role in fighting against the military dictatorship through her cultural-rich music, is now taking the platform to challenge against all the actors against the pan-Somalia.
Her new song "Ha dhigan Dhiigshiil” which means don’t send your money through Dahabshiil, is a great challenge to the company which currently lost a court case against a well-known investigative journalist Dahir Abdulle Alasow in Breda Netherlands after the company accused the reporter of humiliating figures in the company, goodwill defamation and accusation related to Dahabshiil’s attempt to assassinate singer Sado Warsame.
The song relates Dahabshiil to Alshabab, a militant group allied to Alqaeda which rules much of Southern Somalia with brutal laws, and a slow genocide going on in the Sool, Sanag and Ceyn (SSC) regions in Somalia by Somaliland forces, which Warsame is originally from.
Dahabshiil rejected the accusation and sued the investigative reporter whose website waagacusub.com published the articles relating Dahabshiil attempt to assassinate the artist Warsame and the linkage to the terror group and the slow genocide in SSC regions.
But the judge in Breda district court ruled out Dahabshiil’s argument and ordered the reporter to keep doing his job freely, and states the accusation as baseless.
The company’s name Dahabshiil means Goldsmith, while the singer calls it in the song as Dhiigshiil, which means"blood smelter.”, a previous name of the company in early 2000s, which the company owners refute to be called now for their business goodwill.
The song had attracted a big number of listeners who clicked more than 30,000 times on one link in waagacusub website and the controversial comments on the songs divided the public opinion.
A comment with anonymous person says, "The song is true, Dahabshiil feeds Alshabab, and I agree that we don’t need to send our money to it”
Another comment with a name AAD says, "The song shows the dimension of hostility between the company and the artist, let us ask Mahiga to mediate them instead of losing time to the politicians”
Omar Nur, who commented from Hargeysa, the home town of Dahabshiil owners says, "The singer is not so far national singer, we can say that she took a side to attack the company of Somaliland”
Duniya Hassan, also commented and said, "Sado you are the voice of the voiceless, keep up the good job, you really started a good step against the blood suckers”
In 1990, Singer Warsame produced an album that caused the fall of the military regime after all the people of Somalia were affected by the political impact of her song "Land-cruiser”
The song name, Land-cruiser means, that all government officials were stealing the public money and bought luxury Toyota Land-cruisers while the hospitals were lack of electricity and the women were dying because of birth complications.
She was sentenced to death by the dictatorship regime but went in hiding until the regime was ousted by a disgruntled guerrillas led by late Gen. Mohamed Farah Aideed, and she left the country because of the civil war and lives in the united states.
The raw between the super start singer Sado Ali Warsame and Dahabshiil’s company goes back into clannish issues between The Isack clan of Somaliland and her Dhulbahante clan that dispute over the regions of SSC.
The super star was one time a hero in Somaliland, because she was the only voice of the people of Somaliland in 1988 when the regime launched military offensive that killed tens of thousands of innocent people.
In her Land-cruiser album, there is a song she inquires the regime why the people in northern Somalia are massacred, and urged the regime to stop the bloody attacks and leave the leadership.
She was overwhelmingly affected by the inhumanity of the regime against the people of Northern Somalia and decide to speak out for their cause even if she was facing a death penalty from the regime.
But things turned into vice versa while Somaliland’s breakaway region started to force the SCC regions, which Sado is ethnically from, to be part of their seceding region.
In 2009, following bloody attacks by Somaliland’s forces in Sool region, Sado released an album encouraging the unity of Somalia and telling the Somaliland forces to stop attacking the SSC territories which are held by Somaliland.
One of Ms. Warsame’s better known songs was a protest against Dahabshiil and its support of al-Shabaab. The song, called "Dhiigshiil ha dhigan,” contains a play on words. The name of the defendant, "Dahabshiil,” means "gold smelter.” Ms. Warsame changed this to "Dhiigshiil,” which means "blood smelter.” The translation of the title is "Don’t Do Business With The Blood Smelter.” The lyrics she sang include these:
They call him "Blood Smelter” to manipulate the public
He has lot of money to make sure Mogadishu will never be at peace
He is the enemy of Somalia
Somalis, do not deposit your money to his banks
He is real tribalism; he is destroying our land
The money he is making from us will kill our children
Somalis, do not deposit your money to his banks
The song demanded the bad attention of pro-breakaway groups including leaders of Dahabshiil who were accused of funding websites that started to propagate against the super star.
They started to depict the super star as a whore, but her challenges against the Somaliland administration and Dahabshiil has shown greater impact than the propaganda from the administration and the company.
She also stood by the defense of Somalia’s former Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Samatar who was accused by pro Somaliland groups and called a fair trial which can charge all those involved in the crimes in Somalia including the leaders of Somaliland who were part of the regime during the reign of Mohamed Ali Samatar.
Sado Ali Warsame, a top five Somalia’s super starts, has now launched its album against the secession of Somaliland and urges the public to avoid using Dahabshiil and vowed to continue until its shut down.
Dahabshiil’s former UK branch manager, Sa’ad Ali shire is a minister in Somaliland and other members in the government are from Dahabshiil, so that, Dahabshiil is involved in the Somaliland politic all the time.
Sado’s words in the song, whichj says, "Dahabshiil is against the blue flag of Somalia, so don’t use it” attracted many southerners of Somalia and may result a great customer loss for Dahabshiil which was one time the leading Hawala company in the horn but seems to be number 3 under Qaran money transfer and WorldRemit.
Published: Apr 17th, 2011
By Rooble Dirir
Galkao-Galmudug
http://www.galmudugnews.com/2011/04/17/a-somali-super-star-singer-sings-against-dahabshiil-money-transfer/
Somalia:The "blood smelter." Song of don't send your money through Dahabshiil
(GalmudugNews.com) A top Somali super star Sado Ali Warsame, had released an album against the Dahabshiil money transfer which she warns the people to send their money to the company because of what the singer called 'a linkage to tribalism and