Mogadishu's Finest: The Al-Uruba Sessions, by Iftin Band (Kooxda Iftin)

Mogadishu's Finest: The Al-Uruba Sessions

by Iftin Band (Kooxda Iftin)

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Markus Bader Vinyl version. Well, you'll hear from which medium this was sourced (cassettes), but this ain't no complaint as it puts you back into the time it was recorded. And a musically great time it was as you experience on this absolutely heartical compilation. Think this one will grow with further listening. Thanks for this one, Ostinato Records!! Favorite track: War Wayneey (Great News) feat. Aweeys Qaamis & Siteey Qosol Wanaag.

Faisal Jewell I really Love the Reggae Beat of Iisoo Buub (Give it to Me) Favorite track: Iisoo Buub (Give it to Me) feat. Maryan Naasir & Axmed Sharif Killer.

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Full Digital Discography

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Jantra Remixed, Harmonizing Soweto: Golden City Gospel & Kasi Soul from the new South Africa, Synthesized Sudan: Astro-Nubian Electronic Jaglara Dance Sounds from the Fashaga Underground, Mogadishu's Finest: The Al-Uruba Sessions, Beja Power! Electric Soul & Brass from Sudan's Red Sea Coast, The Strings of São Domingos, (Djibouti Archives Vol. 1) Super Somali Sounds from the Gulf of Tadjoura, The Dancing Devils of Djibouti, and 10 more. , and , .

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1.	Aaway Axdigii aynu isku Ogeyn? (Where is our Promise?) feat. Shukri Musse 03:56	buy track
2.	War Wayneey (Great News) feat. Aweeys Qaamis & Siteey Qosol Wanaag 06:21	buy track
3.	Umaayey iyo Abo (Mother & Father) feat. Axmed Sharif Killer & Safiyo Axmed Mansuur 06:06	buy track
4.	Deriskaagi waa kugu Jahowareeray (Your Neighbor is Confused About You) feat. Axmed Sharif Killer & Siteey Qosol Wanaag 05:21	buy track
5.	Hobolada Hooyibo feat. Dr. Rafi 04:35	buy track
6.	Xiriirkaagii aan kusoo Xarakeeyee (Let's Celebrate our Relationship) feat. Siteey Qosol Wanaag & Aweeys Qaamis 07:28	buy track
7.	Wiilkii aan ku Waashee (The Boy who Drives Me Crazy) feat. Shukri Musse & Axmed Sharif Killer 06:21	buy track
8.	Ruuney feat. Sahra Azura Xasan & Malow Aw Dinle 05:17	buy track
9.	Haba Ley Habaaree (Let Me Be Cursed) feat. Maryan Naasir & Axmed Sharif Killer 06:33	buy track
10.	Shaydan Buulow (Dancing Devil) feat. Siteey Qosol Wanaag & Aweeys Qaamis 05:04	buy track
11.	Sig Sig Nima (Come Closer) feat. Luul Jeylaani & Cabdiraxman Fanaan 04:49	buy track
12.	Iisoo Buub (Give it to Me) feat. Maryan Naasir & Axmed Sharif Killer 07:23	buy track
13.	Kurbo Jaceyl (Love & Pain) feat. Cabdiraxman Fanaan 07:32	buy track
14.	Imtaxaanka Dunida (The Test of Life) feat. Mahmud Abdalla "Jerry" Hussein 04:45	buy track

about

Seven years in the making, the official retrospective of one of Somalia's most famous and beloved private bands, Iftin. Digitized from cassettes recorded between 1982 and 1987 at the legendary Al-Uruba hotel's secret studio and the jams for the masses performed in the basement of Somalia's national theater. Banaadiri rhythms from Somalia's south, Mogadishu's finest vocalists, Dhaanto reggae-like guitar licks, and smoldering brass blend seamlessly with the sounds of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa to form one of rawest, most cosmopolitan eras of music anywhere. Iftin's Mogadishu is where the world's sounds begin and end.

Fully authorized by the artists featured on each track.

Read our licensing, royalty, and digitization practices here: bit.ly/3ElsmzC

—————————

Mogadishu, 1986. Crystal blue Indian Ocean waters frothing and foaming along the longest coastline in continental Africa. White soft sand beaches and architecture reminiscent of this ancient part of the world’s place as a crossroads where Asia, Africa, and Europe begin and end. A white sheen on most buildings that made the city worthy of its pearly reputation. The seafood? Fresh and exquisite. The music? Sweet as a broken date.

The centerpiece? The Al-Curuuba (Al-Uruba) hotel, the cream of abodes along East Africa’s Indian Ocean coast. Situated on the picturesque Lido Beach, adjacent to Mogadishu’s iconic lighthouse, the s-shaped hotel was draped with Arabesque and Somali aesthetics and had it all—studded suites, restaurants, ballrooms, a nightclub, a beach club, a well stocked bar for all persuasions, and a lesser known makeshift recording studio.

But Al-Uruba’s club, like the haunts of other luxury Mogadishu hotels—Shabelle, Jazira, and Juuba—was not for everyone. Entrance fees were exorbitant, an exclusive affair. Many couldn’t hear bands in full swing at Al-Uruba’s nightclub, opting instead for the more democratic, free of charge national theater.

Operating at both Al-Uruba and the national theater was Iftin Band, the raucous, brass-heavy, electric, smoldering, world class outfit that, in the early 1980s, broke away from Somalia’s ministry of education, an academy of musical talent, and blessed every song on this retrospective.

Iftin inebriated a global audience at Al-Uruba while cooking new tracks on the fly on the national theater’s bottom floor, just below the main stage for plays. This compilation reveals the recording sessions at Al-Uruba while making room for the ever important soundtracks to Riwaayads (theater plays).

Going private gave them the space to experiment and learn a great deal by simply taking requests from guests at Al-Uruba’s nightclub. The tourists, business travelers, and government workers were in town from across Africa and Asia, alongside western countries. Demand for dance music from the world over internationalized Iftin’s sound, already formed on a cosmopolitan foundation of Somali music, owing to the Somali coast’s role as a brisk Indian Ocean trading hub for centuries. Americans in town? Fire up James Brown. Travelers from Lagos? Dust off the Afrobeat repertoire. Kenyans? It’s going to be a Benga guitar kind of night. These parties were energized by Banaadiri rhythms of Somalia’s south.

As a private band, Iftin needed a private supplier of the latest instruments and technology. Enter the co-producer of this record, Ahmed Sharif, whose family ran an import business and financed private shows and concerts. Sharif’s family delivered Iftin the tools they needed and fronted funding for many of their performances.
Those shows, like this entire Somali music era, were led by women. Their unrivaled talent coupled with women empowerment policies yielded a vast roster of women singers, the captains of Somalia’s cherished cultural era. And they were treated with immense dignity. Iftin offered paid maternity leave and the government sent a special police task force to protect them.

Some of these recordings found their way to Shankarphone, a shop set up by founder, Shankar, that outcompeted rivals. Lines would stretch through Mogadishu’s largest market to secure the latest Iftin cassettes. After the civil war broke out in the early 1990s, those cassettes made their way around the world, leading to a seven year journey to locate the finest recordings and the performing artists on each track.

Digitized and compiled from cassettes sourced from London, Djibouti, Mogadishu, Nairobi, and Dubai, this is the first official compilation of Somalia’s most venerated band, encapsulating a memory when Somali musicians were operating a class apart from many of their contemporaries.

“Iftin wasn’t a band,” says lead singer Sitey Xosul Wanaag, “it was a vision.”

credits

released November 18, 2022

Compiled & Curated by Vik Sohonie & Nicolas Sheikholeslami
Produced by Vik Sohonie & Ahmed Sharif
Project Coordination by Ahmed Sharif
Restored & Remastered by Mike Graves (Osiris Studio)
Design by Mahammed Elmekki (IG @mahammed896)
Text Layout & Poster by Pete 'Piwi' White
Track Title Translations by Mustafa Mohamed

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