Planet Caravan

Manipulations of Saraf

Tezeta - Mahmoud Ahmed

Side (B) of the Au Revoir, Mogadishu Vol. 1 mixtape. All Sounds included are recordings made in Somalia before 1991 or recorded in exile.

Pre-order your somali compilation here:
https://ostinatorecords.bandcamp.com/album/sweet-as-broken-dates-lost-somali-tapes-from-the-horn-of-africa

Au Revoir, Mogadishu (B)

Worotan

Baba

Africa 45, number 15 – http://www.mrbongo.com/products/mahmoud-ahmed-aynotche-terabu-seyoum-gebreyes-wallias-band-metch-ene-terf-feleghu-7

‘Aynotché Tèrabu’, featuring Equators Band, was original released on Amha Records, Amha AE 920 A in 1975. This one has been a firm favourite in our DJ sets since we have had it cut; driving Ethio-funk with big vocals and drums.

Mahmoud Ahmed also appeared on Africa 45, number 4 with ‘Bemen Sebeb Letlash’.

‘Mètch Ené Terf Fèlèghu’ was originally released on Kaifa KF 002 A (7703) in 1973. Mid tempo, Ethio funk led by a low slung bass line and horns.

Both Seyoum Gèbrèyès and Wallias Band appeared previously on AFR45.014.

Mahmoud Ahmed - Aynotché Tèrabu

Africa 45, number 16 – http://www.mrbongo.com/products/bahta-gebre-heywet-tessassategn-eko-alemayehu-eshete-ayalqem-tedenqo-7

‘Tèssassatègn Eko’ is a catchy, soulful Ethiopian jam. Originally released on Amha AE 690 A in 1973. Arranged by the prolific Girma Beyene.

‘Ayalqem Tèdènqo’ see’s Eshèté’s third appearance in the Africa 45’s series. Released originally on Amha AE 290 A in 1971. A shuffling drum/percussion groove with soulful piano and bass, catchy vocal hook and guitar solo.

Alèmayèhu Eshèté – Ayalqem Tèdènqo

Agadez

Kammou Taliat

Adounia

Get it here: https://ostinato-records.lnk.to/sweetasbrokendates

★★★★ 
-- The Guardian

"A mega mixtape of Somali classics."
-- BBC

"Sparkles with superior voices, superb musicians and both familiar & refreshingly new sounds." 
-- Wall Street Journal

"This record is a miracle. A legacy of the past that blurs the trauma of the present." 
-- Le Monde

"Perhaps the most beautiful music in the world, finally rediscovered."
-- Radio Nova Paris

--- 

Snippet of one of the tracks in the upcoming compilation "Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa". 

"Uur Hooyo" licensing courtesy of Cabdinaasir Macalin Caydiid in Hargeisa. 

Special thanks to Christina Woolner & Kenedid Hassan for helping us license this song. 

Read more about the project here:

— BBC bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05btd5h
— Wall Street Journal on.wsj.com/2wTYAzQ 
— AL JAZEERA http://bit.ly/2vfgc4g
— YAHOO / AFP https://yhoo.it/2w2ofFe
— OKAYAFRICA http://bit.ly/2uNaGsn | http://bit.ly/2f0kaLB
— MUSIC IN AFRICA http://bit.ly/2hfMx9n
— QUARTZ AFRICA http://bit.ly/2hfWTpC
— RADIO NOVA PARIS http://bit.ly/2ubY3U7
— THUMP GERMANY http://bit.ly/2vkS708

Watch the TED talk about the project: http://bit.ly/2vleB1g

Vocals -- Mohamed "Huro" Abdihashi 
Guitar -- Abdinaasir Macalin Aideed
Sax -- A man nicknamed 'Alto'
Organ/Synth -- Abdi Yare and Shacayb 
Drums -- Amiin

Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa

BUY NOW!

Danan Hargeysa feat. Mohamed "Huro" Abdihashi — Uur Hooyo (Mother's Womb) (1987)

Taken from Sweet As Broken Dates, a stunning new compilation of lost Somali music, put together by @OstinatoRecords, is a 15 track story telling the story of Somali's sounds pre-civil war. The music of compilation is put together from tapes of Somali music that was buried into the ground to survive bombings.

Aamina Camaari's track is a perfect combination of beautiful vocal song, traditional instrumentalism and danceable bass line.

Read more here: bit.ly/stwsomali

Aamina Camaari - Rag Waa Nacab Iyo Nasteexo (STW Premiere)

In 2007 John Beadle, a Milwaukee-based musicologist and owner of the much loved Likembe blog, uploaded a cassette he had been handed twenty years earlier by a Somalian student. The post was titled ‘Mystery Somali Funk’ and it was, in Samy’s own words, “some of the deepest funk ever recorded.” The cassette seemed to credit these dense, sonorous tunes to the legendary Iftin Band. But initial contact with Iftin’s lead singer suggested that the ‘mystery funk’ may have actually been the work of their chief rival, Dur-Dur, a young band from the 80s. 

Back then, Mogadishu had been a very different place. 
On the bustling Via Roma, people from all corners of society would gather at the Bar Novecento and Cafe Cappucino Nero, watch movies at the famous Supercinema, and eat at the numerous pasta hang-outs. 
The same street was also home to Iftinphone and Shankarphone, two of the city’s best known music shop. Located opposite each other, they were the centre of Somalia’s burgeoning cassette distribution network. Both shops, run by members of the legendary Iftin Band, would become first-hand witnesses to the meteoric rise of Dur-Dur, a rise that climaxed in April of 1987 with the release of Volume 2, their second album. 

The first single ‘Diinleya’ had taken Somalian airwaves by storm in a way rarely seen before or since. The next single, ‘Dab,’ had an even greater impact, and the two hits had turned them into the hottest band in town. 
The secrets to Dur-Dur’s rapid success is inextricably linked to the vision of Isse Dahir, founder and keyboard player of the band. Isse´s plan was to locate some of the most forward-thinking musicians of Mogadishu´s buzzing scene and lure them into Dur-Dur. Ujeeri, the band’s mercurial bass player was recruited from Somali Jazz and drummer extraordinaire Handal previously played in Bakaka Band. These two formed the backbone of Dur-Dur and would become one of Somalia’s most extraordinary rhythm sections. 

Isse also added Ahmed Dahir Qassin as a permanent sound engineer, a first in Somalia and one of the reasons that Dur-Dur became known as the best-sounding band in the country.

On their first two albums, Volume 1 and Volume 2, three different singers traded lead-vocal duties back and forth. Shimaali, formerly of Bakaka Band, handled the Daantho songs, a Somalian rhythm from the northern part of the country that bears a striking resemblance to reggae; Sahra Dawo, a young female singer, had been recruited from Somalia’s national orchestra, the Waaberi Band. Their third singer, the legendary Baastow, whose nickname came from the italian word ‘pasta’ due to the spaghetti-like shape of his body, had also been a vocalist with the Waaberi Band, and had been brought into Dur-Dur due to his deep knowledge of traditional Somali music
Yet from the very beginning, Dur-Dur’s doctrine was the fusion of traditional Somali music with whatever rhythms would make people dance: Funk, Reggae, Soul, Disco and New Wave were mixed effortlessly with Banaadiri beats, Daantho and spiritual Saar music. The concoction was explosive and when they stormed the Mogadishu music scene in 1986 with their very first hit single, ‘Yabaal,’ featuring vocals from Sahra Dawo, it was clear that a new meteorite had crash-landed in Somalia. As Abdulahi Ahmed, author of Somali Folk Dances explains: “Yabaal is a traditional song, but the way it was played and recorded was like nothing else we had heard before, it was new to us.” ‘Yabaal’ was one of the songs that resurfaced on the Likembe blog, and it became the symbolic starting point of this project.

Get some Somali Funk

Jaceyl  Mirahiis - Dur-Dur Band (Leave a comment for Dur-Dur´s Musicians, I´ll forward)

💥PRE-ORDER NOW💥

The Dancing Devils of Djibouti. Out June 5.

2LP/CD ➡️ lnk.to/dancingdevils
Digital/Stream ➡️ lnk.to/8spABTID

A stunning collision of Somali funk, American jazz, Jamaican reggae, Indian Bollywood, and the synth melodies of the Red Sea by Groupe RTD, one of East Africa's best kept secrets.

Freshly pressed double LP cut at 45 RPM, housed in a reverse board printed gatefold sleeve, alongside a hardcover CD bookcase with a 12-page booklet.

Recorded in three days -- as per the strict limit set by Djibouti's national radio authorities -- with a state-of-the-art mobile recording studio replete with the very best audio interfaces and carefully positioned microphones around a less than soundproof room to achieve a vibrant, professional sound while maintaining the analog warmth of decades prior.

Tezeta - Mahmoud Ahmed

Binyam

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