
Above: Fadumo-Nakruma Ali Jama (courtesy of the artist)
My aunts and uncles used to exchange stories about their culturally conservative father visiting Fadumo-Nakruma Ali Jama, a well-known Somali musician and stage performer, to deliver a message from her father. When she came to the door, he fled in shock because her outfit was so revealing.
I visited with Fadumo-Nakruma last Friday to confirm the encounter with my grandfather. She was rehearsing for a play called "The Result of Civil War and Rush to Overseas," part of the Somali Museum of Minnesota's second anniversary celebration.
Instead I discovered Fadumo-Nakruma had a remarkable career in the Somali arts spanning more than 50 years. She even tutored Stevie Wonder on Afro-Soul music.
Fadumo-Nakruma joined the Somali National Army in 1964 as a nurse recruit to support her country while it was warring with Ethiopia over disputed territory. The same year she auditioned for a play called "No Sitting Down," designed to boost soldier morale. She wowed the judges and "the rest is history," she said.
She sang two songs during that first play in Mogadishu and met her first love. The government-sponsored band of actors, singers and writers were preparing to tour their show to other cities in Somalia, but her new lover didn't want her to go. Fadumo-Nakruma obliged.
She was jailed for 40 days for refusing to travel. She stopped performing for a while, returning four years later as the mother of four young children.
In 1977, she traveled to Lego, Nigeria, with a group of Somali performers to compete at the Festival of Africa and Black Nations for the Arts. She won an award in the Afro-Soul category with a rendition of the love song "Love is Not Mirage." Here is a grain video of Fadumo-Nakruma's award-winning performance.