The moving piece in today's NY Times begins with these words: "One has to be careful about stories. Especially true ones. When a story is told the first time, it can find a place in the listener’s heart. If the same story is told over and over, it becomes less like a presence in that chest and more like an X-ray of it.
The beating heart of my story is this: I was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. I had a brief but beautiful childhood filled with poetry from renowned relatives. Then came a bloody end to it, a lesson in life as a Somali: death approaching from the distance, walking into our lives in an experienced stroll..."
Read the NY Times piece: "A Son Returns to the Agony of Somalia."
I had not heard of K'Naan. My loss. A musician and a poet, his rap is important, brilliant.
Here is a link to one of K'Naan's songs: Somalia
