Somalia: History, Culture, and Geography of Music

Orwin, Martin

Abstract

Somali society is composed of three major socioeconomic groups: nomadic pastoralists, sedentary agriculturalists, and townspeople. This is reflected in musical culture. The nomadic population traditionally has no musical instrument accompaniment to poetry/song other than, for some types, the use of makeshift drums, handclapping, and foot-stamping. The agriculturalists in the southern-central regions play the shareero, a bowl lyre of a type found throughout East Africa. The communities in the southern coastal towns share some distinct cultural traits including some musical traditions. This entry provides a brief introduction to some of these shared traditional forms and practices of music in Somali.

Citation

Orwin, M. (2019). Somalia: History, Culture, and Geography of Music. In J. Sturman (Ed.), The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture. SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483317731.n663

• Acceptance Date: Mar 22, 2025
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Nov 30, 2018
• Book Title: The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture
• ISBN: 9781483317755
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483317731.n663
• Related Public URLs: https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur