Analog Africa's journey through Somali cassette and radio archives
December 4, 2019 12:04 PM Subscribe
In 2007 John Beadle, digitized a cassette and uploaded MP3s of 'Mystery Somali Funk' (previously) to his Likembe blog. He had been given the tape twenty years earlier by a Somalian student, and Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb take the reverse path, heading to travel to in Mogadishu in November of 2016 to track down the original music. This lead to his meeting Dur-Dur and hearing the stories behind their fusion of traditional Somali music with whatever rhythms would make people dance (Bandcamp): funk, reggae, soul, disco and New Wave were mixed effortlessly with Banaadiri beats, Daantho and spiritual Saar music. Samy also went through the archives of Radio Muqdisho (Somali and English news), now compiled in Mogadisco: Dancing Mogadishu (Somalia 1972-1991) (Bandcamp).
Bonus tracks: besides the whole archives of Analog Africa, you can stream and download a 20 year old mix from Samy, via 716 Lavie.
And more from Likembe: More Somali funk, and in general, the whole Somalia blog tag.
Bonus tracks: besides the whole archives of Analog Africa, you can stream and download a 20 year old mix from Samy, via 716 Lavie.
And more from Likembe: More Somali funk, and in general, the whole Somalia blog tag.
This is seriously a fantastic find and the kind of post that reminds me why I love Metafilter. Thank you!
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:52 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:52 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]
This is really cool! BTW, I found a playlist called Mogadisco on Spotify that despite its name seems to cover most of Africa, but has some of the same vibes.
posted by Harald74 at 2:11 AM on December 5, 2019
posted by Harald74 at 2:11 AM on December 5, 2019
There's a contemporary Malian band called Songhoy Blues that (to my untrained ears) sounds similar to some of this Somali music. Spotify put them on my radar recently, and now the Mogadisco Playlist is going to join the rotation on my commute.
posted by rickw at 3:26 AM on December 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by rickw at 3:26 AM on December 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
Listening to Mogadisco right now. It's interesting stuff, I might need to pre-order the vinyl. Thanks for posting this!
posted by jzb at 4:59 AM on December 5, 2019
posted by jzb at 4:59 AM on December 5, 2019
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