Mogadisco: Dancing Mogadishu, Somalia 1972​-​1991 cover

Mogadisco: Dancing Mogadishu, Somalia 1972​-​1991

Recorded
1972-1991
Released

The sounds of Somalia’s Golden Era of music — when tourists and locals flocked to Lido Beach and dressed up in the latest fashion to attend nightly gigs in the Mogadishu’s coolest clubs —was defined by bands like Dur Dur, Bakaka, and Waaberi, who merged disco, soul, and funk with tribal chants and spiritual Saar music. New musical technologies contributed to the development of the Golden Era sound, as bands like Iftin made synthesizers the center of the music, like on the spellbinding “Sirmaqabe” (No Secrets) and the optimistic, uplifting “Ii Ooy Aniga” (Cry For Me).

Megan Iacobini de Fazio

Recommended by

Suggestions
Bichos cover

Bichos

Raúl Monsalve y los Forajidos
Yellow Fever cover

Yellow Fever

Africa 70, Fela Kuti
You Can Do It cover

You Can Do It

Slim Ali & the Hodi Boys
Take One cover

Take One

Hallelujah Chicken Run Band
Bunzu Soundz cover

Bunzu Soundz

Bunzu Soundz
Saccades cover

Saccades

Ocen James, Rian Treanor