Back in 1967 French Somaliland became The Afars and The Issas. For the young Ernie who studied maps and yearned to travel it seemed to be a magical place - maybe because the name alludes to it being a far away land, or maybe I was just a strange child.
When the country gained independence in 1977 it adopted the name Djibouti. At that point it rather dropped off my radar for the next 40 years or so until in 2018, on a short visit to Addis Ababa, I learnt that the passenger train service between there and Djibouti had only just reopened after many years.
That really sparked my interest and I had started making tentative plans to make the trip when Covid came along and scuppered them. But I am still keen to go at some point in the future, not least because of the first two records we will feature today, both of which came out during the pandemic.
In 2020 the good folks at Ostinato Records released "The Dancing Devils Of Djibouti" by Groupe RTD, which quickly became one of my favourite records of the year. If you have not got it already you should pick it up from Bandcamp this Friday.
The story of how the record was made is almost as entertaining as the album itself. Groupe RTD (short for Radiodiffusion-Télévision Djibouti) are a state-funded band performing at official functions. After lengthy negotiations with the authorities, Ostinato got permission to have a three-day recording session with the band while they were off-duty. The album is the result.
Both sides were evidently pleased with the critical success of the record as Ostinato were given permission to root around in the RTD archives. This resulted in the release in 2021 of the snappily named "Super Somali Sounds from the Gulf of Tadjoura", a compilation of the works of 4 Mars - and another must have in my view.
4 Mars were active from 1977 to 1994 with a rotating cast of anything up to 40 actors, singers, dancers and musicians - Djibouti's answer to the Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, if you will, but with a wild and wonky skanking beat. Hopefully there is more to come from the archives.
The third selection today comes from an earlier Ostinato compilation, the Grammy nominated "Sweet As Broken Dates" (2018). The majority of the artists featured on the album were from Somalia, but there were also a handful from Djibouti including 4 Mars and Nimco Jaamac.
Biographical details about Ms Jaamac are hard to come by. Also known (or perhaps just spelt) as Nima Djama, she was born in Djibouti in 1948, was heavily involved in the independence campaign back in the 1970s, and is currently believed to be alive and well and living in Ottawa.
The same sadly cannot be said for Yanna Momina, who was also born in 1948 but died in June this year shortly before she was due to appear at WOMAD for what would have been her first concert outside Djibouti. Her debut international release, "Afar Ways", came out on Glitterbeat last year and is another cracker.
Finally we bring you Abdallah Lee, who passed away in 2007 at the age of only 44, but who remains one of the most famous and popular singers in Djibouti. He is billed as Abdallah Lee Kaaqe on the bootleg album I found this track on. From what I can tell Kaaqe (or Kaqi) appears to be a nickname not part of his actual name, so I opted to cut the Kaaqe.
"Iiso Daymo" - Groupe RTD
"Dhulka Hooyo" - 4 Mars
"Buuraha U Dheer" - Nimco Jaamac
"Honey Bee" - Yanna Momina
"Royan Baggi Raqi Yo Maaha" - Abdallah Lee
I like to think I'm an educated man. But I did not know that Djibouti was a country. Anyway, those first two tracks are splendid, but as I listen to track 3 my partner has moved away (it obviously annoys her), and I am now getting stern looks as track 4 comes on.
ReplyDeleteIf track 4 is too much I wouldn't risk track 5 if I were you.
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