In the good old days, the shir (meeting) used to be an assembly for consultations with its own xeer. It was an institution in every place that was inhabited by somalis. It had obectives; to settle disputes, to identify and plan looming challenges as well as celebrations.
There were strict rules; afar faataxo and duco was followed by discussions by the old and the wise and ended with afar faataxo again when consensus was reached.
Nowadays, the words of Oscar Wilde come to mind if you watch Somali shir on TV; “if you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn't. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism”.
Our own Sangub wrote a play a few years before the demise of the communist regime. The play entitled “waa maadeeys aduunyadda dadkana waay matalayaan” (Eng; the world is a play and its inhabitants are all actors” was a rarity in a national discourse that was centred on “we are great”
The patterns, schedules and images are always the same; xaawaleys displaying their latest collection of dirac and dahab and men wearing pirated suits. The Xaawaleys come as Cadeeys only to look like coal at the end of the meeting.
These images mock the poor and amplify the “buufis” that characterize those that did not make to the diaspora. The next day superficial images are diffused on tribal websites, Facebook, below-standard TV stations (paid journalists) and other sources of the feel good gibberish that our eyes and ears are exposed to.
The keywords used at these meetings are always the same and static; “Shir, Jaaliyadda, Cambaareeyn, wax garad, aqoon yahay, culumaaudin and much other babble.
If Sigmond Freud would have been alive today, he would have certainly wrote that the somali shir is a venue of primitive mating; everything appears to be centered on copulating.
These meeting are usually given a religious blessing by a man who recites from the Quran and applauses follows.
The keynote speakers appear to have been selected from a cohort with a low IQ. You will find the “injineer” without a degree, the Sheikh without knowledge of islamic scholarship, the dottore without education, the aqoon yahan without aqoon.
The shir is announced weeks ahead but starts late. You will spot a flag here and there portraying a land/state that only exists in the imagination of the attendees. After the Quran by the fake wadaad, an old song that use to carry wisdom is sung by a lousy singer. This is followed by the wails of women chanting buraanburs with puerile lyrics.
Speaker after speaker borrows the microphone to talk about a world, a region, country, beel etc that only exists in the minds of those that attend these shir.
Have you been to a shir recently? share your thoughts.
