Dur-Dur Band VOLUME 5
Dur-Dur Band VOLUME 5
Double LP of the legendary Somali pop-funk group’s tape, made in Mogadishu in 1989.
From the late 1960s until the early 1990s, a vibrant music scene in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu was teeming with pop and folk musicians exploring the boundaries of regional sensibilities.
With influences spanning several genres of Somali traditional music, often meshed with Western pop, jazz and Middle-Eastern elements, a swirling diversity of sounds were being created, consumed, supported and encouraged.
This recording, which was remastered from a cassette copy source, is a document of Dur-Dur Band after establishing itself as one of the most popular bands in Mogadishu.
The challenge of locating a complete long-player from this era is evidenced by the fidelity of this recording. However, the complex, soulful music penetrates the hiss.
By 1987 Dur-Dur Band’s line-up featured singers Sahra Abukar Dawo, Abdinur Adan Daljir, Mohamed Ahmed Qomal and Abdukadir Mayow Buunis, backed by Abukar Dahir Qasim (guitar), Yusuf Abdi Haji Aleevi (guitar), Ali Dhere (trumpet), Muse Mohamed Araci (saxophone), Abdul Dhegey (saxophone), Eise Dahir Qasim (keyboard), Mohamed Ali Mohamed (bass), Adan Mohamed Ali Handal (drums), Ooyaaye Eise and Ali Bisha (congas) and Mohamed Karma, Dahir Yaree and Murjaan Ramandan (backing vocals). Dur-Dur Band managed to release almost a dozen recordings before emigrating to Ethiopia, Djibouti and America.
Dur-Dur Band VOLUME 5
Doppel-LP der legendären somalischen Pop-Funk-Gruppe, aufgenommen in Mogadischu im Jahr 1989.
Von den späten 1960er bis zu den frühen 1990er Jahren gab es in Somalias Hauptstadt Mogadischu eine lebendige Musikszene mit Pop- und Folk-Musikern, die die Grenzen der regionalen Sensibilitäten ausloteten.
Mit Einflüssen aus verschiedenen Genres der traditionellen somalischen Musik, die sich oft mit westlichem Pop, Jazz und Elementen aus dem Nahen Osten vermischten, wurde eine wirbelnde Vielfalt von Klängen geschaffen, konsumiert, unterstützt und gefördert.
Diese Aufnahme, die von einer Kassettenkopie neu gemastert wurde, ist ein Dokument der Dur-Dur Band, nachdem sie sich als eine der beliebtesten Bands in Mogadischu etabliert hatte.
Die Schwierigkeit, einen kompletten Longplayer aus dieser Zeit zu finden, wird durch die Treue dieser Aufnahme belegt. Doch die komplexe, gefühlvolle Musik durchdringt das Rauschen.
1987 bestand die Dur-Dur Band aus den Sängern Sahra Abukar Dawo, Abdinur Adan Daljir, Mohamed Ahmed Qomal und Abdukadir Mayow Buunis, unterstützt von Abukar Dahir Qasim (Gitarre), Yusuf Abdi Haji Aleevi (Gitarre), Ali Dhere (Trompete), Muse Mohamed Araci (Saxophon), Abdul Dhegey (Saxophon), Eise Dahir Qasim (Keyboard), Mohamed Ali Mohamed (Bass), Adan Mohamed Ali Handal (Schlagzeug), Ooyaaye Eise und Ali Bisha (Congas) sowie Mohamed Karma, Dahir Yaree und Murjaan Ramandan (Backgroundgesang). Die Dur-Dur Band konnte fast ein Dutzend Aufnahmen veröffentlichen, bevor sie nach Äthiopien, Dschibuti und Amerika auswanderte.
Awesome Tapes from Africa
Awesome Tapes From Africa is a record label and web site operated by Brian Shimkovitz.
The site was founded in 2006 in Brooklyn, New York.
The site was created as a way for Shimkovitz to share music he had come across while on a scholarship in Ghana.
He was interested in the variety of genres and artists he found, distributed largely on cassette tapes at markets, but that he had not come across outside West Africa.
In 2011 he transitioned the site from just a blog with posted recordings of collected tapes posted without the artists' permission to a commercial record label.
The goal of the company is to seed and expand an audience for the artists presented as well as provide opportunities to sell albums and tour.
Artists are paid every six months and receive 50% of the profits from an album.
Tapes presented on Awesome Tapes come from a variety of sources: gathered in Ghanaian street markets, purchased in stores in the US, or sent by others over the internet.
In addition to the website, Shimkovitz DJ's concerts, clubs and at festivals as Awesome Tapes From Africa, as well as hosts a show on Dublab.
Most Awesome Tapes From Africa releases are official rereleases of out-of-print cassettes from African musicians and bands.
SK Kakraba's Songs of Paapieye is the first album to consist of a new release. Although music is distributed in Africa via MP3 on mobile phones, Shimkovitz says the widest variety of music in West Africa is still available on cassette tape.
In the journal Public Culture, Awesome Tapes From Africa, along with record labels Sublime Frequencies and Parallel World, is discussed as being emblematic of "World Music 2.0" for combining the "open source ethics of online networks with long-standing countercultural networks of circulation" within cassette culture and music distribution in developing nations.