Celebrating Somali Cultural Heritage
‘Nin aan dhul marini dhaayo maleh – He who has not travelled has no understanding.’
The Somali community has travelled to Bristol, and has come with a deep understanding of who they are and where they are from. Now, to celebrate the Somali community’s presence in Bristol, and to wrap their arms around Bristolians who do not know of them, Black South West Network and the Somali Media Group, in conjunction with Kayd Somali Arts and Culture are holding a Somali Festival here on the Friday 30th of October.
The Bristol Somali Festival is a sister to the week-long Somali Festival in London that is curated by Kayd and will similarly focus on the concept of ‘spaces’, what they mean, and how they are used, for ‘Aqoon la’aani waa iftiin la’aan – The absence of knowledge is the absence of light’ and we wish to fill these spaces with light.
The Festival is part of a wider Black South West Network project that will be exploring Somali Diaspora Identity in Bristol over the last 25 years. The project will be exploring Somali heritage and identity in the UK from 1991 to the present day. It aims to draw out how heritage and identity have changed as a result of living in the UK, and to develop a body of work that all people can relate to, which will engender a sense of understanding across communities.
The project will examine key themes of Somali heritage and cultural identity to understand what it means to be a Somali and Bristolian/British. This project will honour the Somali oral tradition by recording interviews with members of all age groups in our community to capture the memories, thoughts and views of the Somali community in Bristol.
These interviews will be conducted by trained members of the Somali community. Interviewees will cover both genders and an age range that will provide rich data from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation Somalis in Bristol.
The project will be launched at the 2015 Somali Festival in Bristol, an off-shoot of the annual Somali Festival in London. Over the following year, 48 interviews will be collected. The interviews will be edited and used as features in monthly radio programmes on BCfm community radio; they will be utilized, alongside personal artefacts, video footage, and interactive heritage exhibits, as key elements of a year long exhibition on the Somali community in Bristol at the MShed, which will be launched at the 2016 Somali Festival.
As a result of this project, the whole of Bristol can learn of Somali culture through their own words.
‘Af jooga looma adeego – Do not serve for a mouth that is present (i.e. one should not speak on behalf of a person who is present).’
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Date: Friday, 30th of October 2015
Time: 12:00 – 21:00
Venue: City Academy Bristol, Russell Town Avenue, Bristol BS5 9JH
Bookings: you could book a place through Eventbrite where Early Bird reservation system is in place – please visit Somali Festival Bristol
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Details of the festival programme, please see the following documents:
PDF: Somali Festival Bristol 2015 – Press Release
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For additional information, please contact:
Sado Jirde, Project Manager, BSWN,
Email: sado@bswn.org.uk or Telephone: 0117 939 6648
https://hlfbacktothefuture.wordpress.com/author/bswnbristol
Bristol Somali Media Group 