Wehelkayga Caashaqa
“My Loving Companion”
Wehelkayga Caashaqa
Poet: Cabdi Cali Weyd
Singer Name: Sahra Axmed Jamaac
Recorded: 1971
“Wehelkayga Caashaqa” is a Somali love song, or “hees jacayl,” sung by Sahra Axmed. The song derives from a 1975 play, “Nin qas-baya jacayl ma loo quudhi karaa?” or “Can Love Endure when a Man’s Force is Applied?“ and the text was written by Cabdi Cali Weyd (Kapteijns, 1999). As a “hees jacayl” or Somali love song, the lyrics of “Wehelkayga Caashaqa” invoke what Christina Woolner describes as “love-pain” or “love-suffering,” a culture-bound association of love and physical pain. A metaphorical pairing often used to describe the painful intensity, longing, and fervor of romance, “love-pain” is present within much of Hees Jacayl, as well as within embedded cultural conceptions of love (Woolner, 2023).
A clear demonstration of “love-pain” can be seen in the lyrics of “Wehelkayga Caashaqa.” For example, “the furor of love” mirrors the physical pain of blood “…not reaching the limbs of my body.” We can see the metaphorical usage of violence and love in other places of Cabdi Cali Weyd’s text as well: the physical reality of flesh being torn, ripped apart in “love had already pierced me” or how sadness is mirrored by the sheer pull of gravity in “I am heavy with memories.” In all, “Wehelkayga Caashaqa” clearly communicates the idea of “love-pain” through its expressive and metaphorical expression of deep-seated emotion.
Sahra Axmed Jaamac singing “Wehelkayga Caashaqa”
A modern cover of “Wehelkayga Caashaqa”, sung by Nadiira Nayruus
