Friday, December 26, 2014

Durdur - Raxmaddii Rabbi Baa Lagu Raaxaystaa (k7)





This is the soundtrack of a tragicomedy of the same name. Sometime in the '80s we're partying at Taleex hotel in Mogadishu. When this record started, almost everybody jumped up to dance the new rage kabxadro, a merge of the traditional butt-wiggling dance/music genre kabeebey and psychedelic Sufi mystical dance xadro. Unable to resist the stompy frenzy, the floor decided to join the merriment and ... collapsed! - coincidentally, track 4 is also known as Gariiree ("I'm Quaking"). Miraculously, no one was badly injured! Anybody who was there, please get in touch.

The rather offbeat title of this album translates to "We Enjoy/Dance to God's Grace" and all the 9 tracks are glorifying or lamenting many shades of un/requited... secular love. If the warlords, from al-shabaab to the CIA et al, possessed half the senses and wits that sinking floor had, they'd shake their fat asses and fucked up brains to any beats of their choice. In which happy case they'd, at worst, only break their bricks and bones... and most definitely get much closer to whatever (transcendental) El Dorado they're seeking than they ever will through the barrels of their weapons, from simple rifles to high-tech drones. Fingers crossed!

Happy, healthy and peaceful 2015!