somali week festival 2008 -thursday, 9 october - wednesday 15 october

Oxford House in Bethnal green in partnership with www.redsea-online.com Language, Culture and Heritage Foundation, Halabuur Centre for Culture and Communication in the Horn (HCCC), Africa Voluntary Youth Committee (HAVOYOCO) and a range of national, internal and local community organisations are pleased to present the Somali Week Festival as a part of Black History Month.

Attracting over 2,000 people last year, this year's festival builds on that, offering the best of Somali culture, old and new, through an eclectic mix of events including poetry, literature and music. This year's Somali Week Festival will focus on the Somali concept of gobannimo.

Gobannimo is a very complex word with a broad range of meanings including freedom and liberty, but also implying a dignified, coherent, independent, giving, tolerant, and respectful approach to dealing with other people. In other words, it encompasses all that is good and achievable by free and responsible human beings.

Gobannimo has an inherent sense of reaching an ultimate state of human responsibility and thus is very relevant to the interlinked notions of citizenship and freedom. Although it relates to personal development and individual dignity it is also at the heart of many strands of current social and political thought amongst Somalis, which will be explored through art and literature.

The festival will focus on poetry, prose literature, and music, which will be presented and discussed by artists and audiences. We are proud to have invited a range of guests including renowned artists, academics and commentators.

Artists & Academics
Ali Sugule (renowned poet, UAE),Abdiqaadir Abdi Shube (poet, Somalia),Daradamle,( musician and vocalist, UK ) Hudaydi " King of lute"( musician and vocalist) Ahmed Aw Geeddi (poet, Somaliland), Mahamed Dahir "Afrah" (Chair of Somali Pen, Djibouti).

Ahmed Yusuf Shaacir (poet, Somaliland), Abdi Mahamud Aamin (writer and educator, Djibouti), Mahamed Haashi Dhama "Gaarriye" Adan Tarabi " known as Tuug Tarabi" (poet, Somaliland), Mahamed Ahmed Kuluc (vocalist), Nimco Deggan, (vocalist, UK), Beeldaaje, (poet, UK ) Abdikariim Raas (vocalist, UK), Abdilahi Bootaan (Poet, London).

Martin Orwin (SOAS), Hassan Adan Samatar (vocalist, Netherlands), Rashid sheikh Abdillahi Haaji Ahmed "Rashid Gadhwayne" ( writer, UK).

Jama Musse Jama (writer,Italy), Jango (Vocalist), abdilahi Awed Iggeh,(writer,UK) Mahamed Hassan "Alto" (SOAS, UK), Qaboojiye (vocalist, UK), Suldaan (poet, UK), Jihaan (vocalist, UK), Mahamed Baashe (writer,UK), Aar (composer and vocalist, UK).

Abdifitaah Yare (vocalist, UK), Mohamed Rashid (BBC, UN, Somaliland), Sa'id Jama ( Writer, UK), Warsan Shire (poet, UK),Michael Walls (UCL, UK), Ali Jama Ahmed (Documentary maker), Anna Lindley (University of Oxford, UK), Abdalle Osman Shafey (cartoon film-maker), Said Ali Shire (writer, UK) . and many more....

We will highlight and explore not only the importance of tolerance, as expressed through Gobannimo but we will also promote the idea that only a free liberated individual can develop a culture of tolerance and deep sense of personal responsibility. We also want to encourage and support emerging Somali artists, following the idea of Gobannimo.

Our aim is to facilitate collaboration and exchange between young and established artists, UK-based Somalis and people from the Somali territories. We will also continue to advocate the importance of Somali art within the wider Somali community. The international aspect of the festival is an important part of our continued development and partnership work with artists and youth organisations in Somali speaking territories.

Join us at the exceptional festival in order to celebrate and explore the uniqueness of Somali art and culture.

For more information about the Festival's Programme, call Ayan Mahamoud, the Festival Coordinator on 020 7749 1140 or e-mail: yan.mahamoud@oxfordhouse.org.uk