大象传媒

鈥淓specially the woman, they cannot sing. They cannot go in front of the people and then sing and say 鈥業 am an artist鈥�. It鈥檚 shameful.鈥�

Today Alan enjoys a treat on the podcast: singer and activist Sahra Halgan came in to the Africa Daily studios in Broadcasting House along with her fellow musicians percussionist, Aymeric Krol, and guitarist, Ma毛l Sal猫tes, and they performed some of their music live for him.

Sahra has lived quite a life鈥� She was a nurse during the Somali civil war in the 1980s before fleeing to France in the 1990s. But after years of building up her singing career abroad, she returned to her home city of Hargeisa in the self-declared republic of Somaliland in 2015 and founded its first cultural and music centre. The name of that club is Hiddo Dhawr - which means 鈥榩romote or keep culture鈥� 鈥� which is also the name of her latest album, out this month.

Opening a club wasn鈥檛 without challenges; there is disapproval of musicians 鈥� especially female ones 鈥� from many sectors of Somali society. And even at the age of 55, Sahra's mother is still hoping that one day she鈥檒l get a proper job!