Kayd Somali Arts & Culture is proud to launch the 17th Annual Somali Week Festival at the British Library on Friday 17th October 2025, opening with this year’s theme: ‘Resonate! Sounds of the Past, Voices of the Future.’ The opening event inaugurates the festival’s thematic focus inviting reflection on the enduring and transformative power of sounds and voices in Somali cultural expression. Through a conversation that brings together leading artists and thinkers from across the Somali diaspora, this evening seeks to explore how traditions of music, poetry, and oral storytelling continue to shape and inspire the future of artistic production in the present.
The event features Warda Mohamed, a British-Somali filmmaker celebrated for her award-winning short film Muna, which has brought a fresh perspective to stories of diaspora and belonging. Also participating are musicians Aar Maanta (Hassan-Nour Sayid), a Somali-British singer-songwriter known for blending rock, reggae, and Western genres with traditional Somali and Arabic music and Abdirahman Nasri, a dynamic singer and composer whose work bridges Somali musical heritage with new, global influences. Completing the panel is Dr Christina Woolner, Artistic Director of Kayd and a social anthropologist whose research and award-winning book have illuminated the socio-political power of Somali music and poetry in Somaliland and the diaspora. This year’s festival launch is designed not merely as a conversation but as a living archive of Somali artistry, where performance and critical reflection intersect.
The host of the event is Hashi Mohamed, a barrister, broadcaster, and author of People Like Us, a book on social mobility in modern Britain. His practice covers planning and environmental law, with a focus on housing, infrastructure, and enforcement. A confident and articulate advocate, he represents individuals, companies, and public bodies in both private and public law matters.
Language: English
BSL: Available
