In early January, I started digging up some Somalian patriotic music, created during the rule of Dictator Siad Barre (1969 - 1991). Obviously, I'm certain that I'll never find the lyrics to these songs at all, along with the songs being pretty long (being from 4-9 minutes long). There is no possible way to upload most of them with translated lyrics. But the chorus, along with the title of the song, means Long live Siyaad (Noolow = Long Live)
Siad Barre was a military dictator who overthrew the Somalian government and set himself as president. He was unfair to certain tribes (he sometimes directed water away from them) and was a brutal dictator. He was a socialist, and a pan-Somalian, because of that belief, in 1977, he launched a war against Ethiopia as an act of irredentism, as to incorporate ethnic Somalis in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia into the Somalian state (known as the Ogaden War). After the war in 1978 (which was a loss), his popularity was in shambles and content within his generals arose, leading to a failed coup. Growing opposition continued against his government throughout the 80s and the crash of the Somalian economy caused a rebellion to ensued against him. In 1991, His government collapsed and Barre went into exile in Lagos, Nigeria until he died in 1995. Somalia will never be the same after him
I would like to step back a little bit and focus a bit more on something else that people always ignore: Civilian life. Although the dictatorship was pretty awful, the (everyday) people of Somalia still prospered. During that time, such trend of prosperity in African nations like Ghana, Zambia, etc.. often happened, and it was the same case with Somalia. It's very unfortunate that Somalia is no longer a sustainable nation like it was decades ago, because all good things must come to an end.. But Somalia has been fighting on against the terrorist threat, and strongly. People always focus on the bad things of a nation, but never focus on the good things about it, never focus on people's individual lives and the difference they made on that nation. It's always political instability and war, what people talk about, but there's also a human part to these times and to the people who experienced it