Cover of cassette ‘Africa’ from Dur Dur

Because of the civil war in Somalia the group had moved to Ethiopia where they published this cassette in the early 1990’s. As it was the practice at that time the cassette was published by a music shop. In this case it is a shop called Elham Video Electronics. The shop has two branches one in Negele, Borana and one in Addis Ababa. The first branch in Negele seems to be the main one. It is located in an area in southern Ethiopia,³ which is close to the Ogaden, i.e. the Somali region of Ethiopia.

The musicians

On the cover there are photos of four members of the group written in Latin and Ethiopic script: Zahra,⁴ Muktar, Abdinur and Qomal (or Komal). 
As with a lot of Somalian musicians and artists it is difficult to obtain mor information about them. Therefor I would be happy for further information and comments about the group, its members and its music.

The songs

The cassette contains twelve songs, six on each side. The titles are given in Latin script on the inside, but listening to the songs it seems that the order of the titles is not correct. Therefore I changed the order of the lables of the 3., 4. and 5. song on the first, and of the 10. and 11. song on the second side. There may be further mistakes in the labeling.⁵

Side A
01 Shered (Sharad)
Riddle, quizz, code; a love song⁶

02 Abasho (Cabasho)
Complaint, accusation; it’s a prayer for forgiveness, repentance and peace in Somalia and everywhere
03 Shelede
(probably about someone who’s possessed by the demons of love)
04 Hak Somalk Dumark (Xaqsoorka Dumarka)
Justice for Women / Uphold Women’’s Rights
05 Africa
Lament over Africa’s current plagues (war, bad politics, poverty, desolation…) and a call for unity to confront the problems hand in hand
06 African Music

Side B
07 Ethiopian Girl
(cover of “I’ve Been Thinking About You”)

08 Gorophmca (Gorofka)
The Elixir (full of love)
09 Ladaney: Oh, Ladan!
(female name); cover of an old love song
10 Kennea (Keennee Gardaran?)
Who is Wrong? (The dictator or the citizens?); This is an old song from early 70s denouncing the dictatorship in veiled lyrics about love.
11 Tarik (Taariikh)
History; love song
12 (C)abasho

(Thanks to Sanaag the titles and order of the songs have been updated on 13/01/2010 and 19/02/2010)

1. I bought the cassette on my first trip to Ethiopia in 1993 in Addis Ababa. And this is also first complete cassette, I managed to upload.
2. An additional source of information about Somali popular music is the fascinating article The Light & Sound Of Mogadishu by Matthew LaVoie at VOA.
3. This area is predominatly inhabited by Oromo.
4. Her full name is Zahra (or Sahro) Dawo and it seems that she was quite popular by her own at that period.
5. Any information about the songs and the group are most welcome!
6. Thanks to Sanaag for the correct Somali spelling, translations and explanations!

Afar Music

The Afar are one of the two main ethnic groups of Djibouti, but there are also Afar in Ethiopia and Eritrea. For a long time the center of Afar popular music was the town Tadjoura (Tagorre in the Afar language) on the Red Sea cost of northern Djibouti, because most Afar singers come from that town.

Fatouma Mansour

Fatouma Mansour is an Afar singer from Djibouti. I took the first song from a cassette I bought 1995 in Assayta, which was the capital of the Afar region of Ethiopia at that time¹. The cassette is just a copy with the names Abdallah Lee² and Fatu³ written in Amharic on the cover. Since there is no additional information on the cover the title of the song remains unkown to me.

Song from Fatouma Mansour

Abdallah Lee & Medina Habib

The second song is from Abdallah Lee (vocal & guitar) and another female singer, Medina Habib. This song is from a cassette I bought 1995 in Djibouti. As the cassette metioned above, this one is also only a copy with no information except the first names of the two interprets.

Song from Abdallah Lee & Medina

1. Today there is a new capital Samara, which was build from scratcht.
2. Maybe the most important Afar singer who died nearly two years ago.
3. Her full name is Fatouma Mansour