page_title: Somalis in the United Kingdom
section_title: Music
hierarchical_section_title: Somalis in the United Kingdom / Culture / Music
caption_attribution_description: English: Aar Maanta
context_page_description: Somalis in the United Kingdom include British citizens and residents born in or with ancestors from Somalia. It is thought that the United Kingdom is home to the largest Somali community in Europe, with an estimated 108,000 Somali-born immigrants residing in the UK in 2018 according to the Office for National Statistics. The majority of these live in England, with the largest number found in London. Smaller Somali communities exist in Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, Leicester, Milton Keynes, Sheffield and Cardiff.
  The earliest Somali immigrants in the UK were lascars and merchants who arrived in the 19th century. A second small group of seamen came during the Second World War with the Royal Navy, and stayed in search of employment from the British Somaliland. During the 1980s and 1990s, the civil war in Somalia led to a large number of Somali immigrants, comprising the majority of the current Somali population in the UK.
  The Somali community represents one of the largest Muslim groups in the UK. While faced with several social challenges, community members include notable sports figures, filmmakers, activists and local politicians.
context_section_description: Prominent Somali musicians based in the UK include Aar Maanta, who produces an eclectic mix of styles blended with traditional Somali music, such as the classical oud-centred Qaraami ("love songs" in Arabic) style of the 1940s. Poly Styrene (born Marianne Joan Elliott-Said), whose father was Somali, was a member of the punk rock band X-Ray Spex, and later a solo artist. Ahmed Ismail Hussein Hudeidi, who died in London of COVID-19 in April 2020 after having settled in the city, was described by the BBC as "a founding father of modern Somali music".
caption: Popular Somali singer Aar Maanta.
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