Mogadishu Blues: A Celebration of Somali Music and Poetry (concerts)

I got the blues!

"It has been a dream in the making but we are proud to introduce you to Mogadishu Blues: a tribute concert in honor of Somali music from the 70’s and 80’s.

The Breathing ensemble led by Orville Breeveld together with four renowned Somali musicians will take you back the golden era of Somali music. It will be a trip down memory lane in which we will reminisce & relive the heydays of Somalia’s best days.

Come & celebrate beautiful Somali music and culture like never before, and make sure to bring your whole family to experience this amazing tribute. It will be a show like you have never seen before!

The kick-off of Mogadishu Blues will be during the National Theater Weekend in the Hague (Saturday 16 January 2016). The Second show will take place on Saturday 30 January 2016 at Theater Meervaart in Amsterdam.

For ticket sales go to the website of Nieuwe Kerk and Meervaart
For questions and inquiries: info@breathing.nl"

Source


Yes, I got the blues...Everyday!

Noora Noor_Forget What I Said

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A hodgepodge of Somali traditional dances in 5 minutes:

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!

New Band: Iska Dhaaf

A friend mailed me the other day a link to a familiarly named band of which I haven't heard before. Iska Dhaaf (which means in Somali so much as let it go, stop it, forget it, don't bother, so what! ...) is a new American band recently formed in Seattle. From their site:

Inspired by Sufi poetry, limitation, and an obsessive preoccupation with writing, Nathan Quiroga and Benjamin Verdoes have fused their seemingly disparate musical and personal backgrounds into something searching and honest. Their songs, with heavy rhythms and cutting melodic hooks, are at once infectious and sweetly disarming

R.I.P. Shiikh Cabdi (Iftin's Guitarist)

Cabdi Cabdullaahi Maxamed ("Shiikh Cabdi") sadly passed away a few weeks ago in Denmark, where he's been ill for sometime. He started his career with the band Malkad in Mogadishu in 1973. After a short stint with Bakaaka in Kismaayo, a port city in the South of Somalia, he joined Iftin in 1977 and played on many of their albums till the onset of the civil war in Mogadishu in 1991. With the death of Shiikh Cabdi, Somali music has lost a self-taught, talented, versatile, innovative and intuitive guitarist and a warm, engaging and friendly personality. A.U.N../R.I.P.!

Peace!

I'm delighted that attempts are being made to restore peace in Mali. The Dutch musician Laurens Joensen has embarked on a fantastic journey to support Malian musicians through benefit concerts, collecting guitars and other instruments which will be donated to the artists and a documentary featuring Malian musicians. The crowdfunded documentary is called Music for Mali and you can contribute here.

For background info. about the conflict in Mali and how culture and specially music(ians) have been affected, Freemuse has just published an extensive report written by Andy Morgan. The 64-page report can be downloaded here.

Speaking of peace, a couple of friends have recently returned to Somalia where the saints of doom are being dompted. The track below is for them as well as for anyone anywhere who is in a similar precarious situation.

Kooxda Halgan_Badbaado Guri Hooyo (1978) ("Safe Home")

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And this one is whole-midfing-heartedly dedicated to the warlords in Somalia and everywhere else:

Horseed_Gabbalaa Iisoo Garguurtee (197x) ("The Sun/set is Crawling To Me")

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Update: The project is fully crowd-funded. A lot of guitars and amplifiers are collected and will soon be shipped to Mali where the making of the documentary will start. An impression:

impression Music for Mali 'repairday' at MuzyQ from Murk-Jaep van der Schaaf on Vimeo.

Festivals in the Netherlands paid a special attention to Malian music and collected instruments, e.g. Festival Muziek op de Dommel in Eindhoven:

You can follow how the project is progressing on Facebook or via the newsletter

Update 2: Check also Sahel Calling, "an interactive, musical project to raise awareness about the refugees, internally-displaced persons and the people living in the conflict-affected areas of Mali and the Sahel".

Durdur Goes International

Awesome Tapes From Africa (ATFA) is planning to release the Somali band Durdur's Volume 5 on February 5, 2013. ATFA offers the following track from the album:




On this occasion, I'd like to let Durdur speak for themselves by sharing the two tracks below. They come from a 25-year-old tape that fought/survived many battles - hence the scarred sonic quality. But the music is imo good and the main reason why I uploaded them lies in the titles.

Durdur_Degdeg ("Hie Thee")

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Durdur_Raaxayso ("Enjoy")

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Africa-Unite

Several visitors requested by mail/comment more of the music I'd sampled here. As I stated in a comment:

"I've many old Somali cassettes but the quality has unfortunately deteriorated; all the more that I've left them in the cellar for more than a decade. Not much I'd like to put up here but I may upload a mixtape sometime in the future. It'll probably take a long time as I've to go through the tapes for palatable sound quality.

Sorry, I don't want to uplaod Chewata's albums as they're easily available. Follow the link in the post or google, Ecosiaze / Znout ( green search engines) the record titles. I'll upload AU IF it's out of print".

Africa-Unite's self-titled album seems out of print. So, here it is :

Tracks

01 Yowm Yewolaye
02 Hamamagi
03 Enegenagnalen
04 Adrop
05 Al Harouf
06 Arada
07 Gedawo
08 Asotriba
09 Dance Medley: Boladada/Dero Dero Ya/Osiilala
10 Saoui Al Jabana
11 Ajmal Alhilwin
12 Shiwishiw
13 Omdurman

Hordhac/Intro

Salaan ka dib, goobtan waxaan furay sannad iyo badh ka hor si aan wax uga qoro tixda iyo tiraabka oo ah qaybaha guud ee ay u kala baxdo suugaanta Soomaalidu. Isla markaana waxaan maanka ku hayey inaan arrimahaas halkan kula gorfeeyo dadka xiiseeya , anigoo gaar ahaan rajeynaya inaan aqoon korodhsi ka helo ragga iyo dumarka ruug-caddaaga ah ee ku xeesha dheer maansada iyo mawaadiicda la xidhiidha. Nasiib darro, waqti xadiddan iyo xiise xayuuban awgood waanba ilaawey inaan ardaagan unkay, ooddiise weli ku awdan tahay!

Waayaha dulqaadka le
wararkayga lagu sii
weedhaydu kuu timi
waa nabad alooskeed
wasalaamu calaykum

Intaynu isu samrayno, dhegeyso ama akhri gabaygii Hadraawi ee Daba Huwan oo ka kooban 100 tuducood ku dhowaad iyo in ka badan 800 oo beyd.