Aar Somal profile picture

Aar Somal

Asalamu Alaykum

About Me

Aar (meaning male lion in Somali) is a musician from Somalia, now living in Europe, Aar’s debut album was called Maanta, which means today. Maanta is a genre hopping, eclectic CD of traditional Somali music infused with Hip Hop, RnB and Afro Beat with some far eastern flavours thrown in for good measure. Maanta is one of the most original and best selling Somali albums of recent times.Aar sings about the plight of the Somali people, how civil war and corruption has affected them and their country yet a sense of positivism pervades through his music with strong messages of peace, unity and progression for a better world. His subtle use of traditional Somali rhythms mixed with modern rhymes and instruments has made Aar’s sound very unique and his performances very popular with a lot of World Music lovers. Current photography by Garret and Shamso www.eyeforaphoto.com.This profile is designed and edited by Abdirahman aka Mr Vibe. Current tracks are samples of the forth coming album Hiddo iyo Dhaqan, feel free to download them and use them as ring tones. Thanks to Jibriil of Saafi Films and Tim Dee we have provided for you a preview of Hanaanka video. Thanks to everyone who voted for their favourate Aar song too, we got the message Uur Hooyo is your favourate track. Last but not least thanks to Smiley Collection Ltd, specialy Saacid for his support and advice. We will update the profile very soon with more new tracks.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 9/24/2006
Band Website: aarband.com coming soon!
Band Members: Aar is a solo artist.
Influences: Aar’s musical influences are varied, growing up in Europe, in the late 80’s and early 90’s he was exposed to a diverse musical styles from Soul, Pop, Rock, House, RnB and Hip Hop. Acts like U2, Stone Roses, Sade, Michael Jackson, Guy and Public Enemy were some of his favourite of the time. When Aar started to study music formally he conveniently got interested in classical music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Peter Tchaikovsky been some of his favourite composers. However, over the years due to the continuing struggle in his motherland, Aar sought for music with spiritual meaning or with a political message. Hence, Aar got into the work of the likes of Bob Marley, Youssou N’Dour, Manu Chao, Baaba Maal, Gnawa Division, Intik, Salif Keita and Maryam Mursal. Aar, has been fortunate enough to be born into a nation that has art or (Suugaan) in Somali as an integral part of their daily life. In going back to his roots Aar has also discovered the full meaning of the inspirational work of great Somali artists such as Abdullahi Suldaan Timacade, Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan and Abdullahi Qarshe. These men used their art as a tool to fight oppression, division and to help the physical and mental freedom of their people. Aar feels that there was a dream behind every one of the artists that he respects and gets inspiration from. The dream and desire that drives Aar’s work is to realise a united and a peaceful country/state that represents all Somalis equally. Aar’s music is ultimately influenced by social and political issues relating to this matter.
Sounds Like: Libaax!
Record Label: C 2008. All tracks produced and perfomed by Aar.
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Asalamu Alaykum; lyrics, info and more...

Hi everyone! I just wanted to take this opportunity to update you and to answer a few frequent questions. I have been busy working on my next album which god willing should be out early next year. I h...
Posted by Aar Somal on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 10:49:00 PST

My Muslim Queen!

The Christian Crusaders of 1095 - 1291, The Transatlantic Slavery of 1500 - 1900, The two wars of 1914 to 1918 & 1939-1945, Hiroshima & Nagasaki, The Holocaust Bosnia 1991 - 1995 Rwanda 19...
Posted by Aar Somal on Tue, 13 Feb 2007 08:07:00 PST

Set me free

It is that time of the year again, when most of us make attempts to change our lives in order to better our ourselves. Here is a piece I wrote about my life and daily struggles.     As the s...
Posted by Aar Somal on Wed, 03 Jan 2007 11:46:00 PST

You don't know what you got till its gone!

To all my family and friends Eid Mubarak! I like to take this opportunity to share my experiences of the past, blessed month of Ramadan. I hope you will take the time out to read my blog and comment o...
Posted by Aar Somal on Mon, 27 Nov 2006 01:16:00 PST