Cutting through it all

MM: I knew it would be dangerous, but I was a very strong woman and felt it was important. I did not anticipate how hard it would be.

SKJ: When she was banned, they spread rumors about her, saying that Maryam had done a sex film, which was absolutely untrue. She was living off being a taxi and lorry driver, instead of being a famous singer.

RR: Did people believe the rumors?

MM: [laughs] No, of course they wouldn't. We are Muslim people. It's absolutely against our faith, and I'm a good Muslim. I was a married woman, I had ten children, and they knew it was absolutely untrue. People would get in my taxi and say, "We don't believe these rumors." Then they would pay double fare, bring me food and cigarettes, and say, "You shouldn't drive a taxi. You should be the singer." I had the support of the people.

RR: Which is something you had to work for early in your career. When you started singing publicly in Somalis, back in 1966, it was extremely rare for a woman to do that, particularly in Islamic culture. How did people react?

MM: They believed that for a woman to be singing, she had to be a poor, bad woman with no morals.

RR: How did you help your country overcome those feelings and realize the beauty of your singing?

MM: I was only sixteen years old when I started, and my mother wanted to protect me. Several times she tried to keep me from going out. But at last she caved in to my very strong will. I said, "Well, you know, I'm good." I joined the Waaberi group, which was the national troupe of dancers, musicians, singers, writers, and composers. We showed people that we were worth listening to.

RR: That's quite a significant cultural reversal - changing the way people viewed the place of women in your society.

MM: I was always the first woman. I was the first woman singing Somali jazz, I was the first star, and I was the first to drive a taxi! I was the first to drive a lorry, and now I'm the first woman from Somalis to have an international record.

COPYRIGHT 1998 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning