Musical History of Somalia

On the beaches of Lido, where the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean caress white sand, Italian tourists came to dance in 1978 at the Al-Uruba club, facing a group that played African funk à la James Brown with lyrics in Somali¹. A few kilometers away, at the Juba hotel, another group, Dur-Dur, made dancefloors tremble with a mix of disco, psychedelic rock and Bollywood melodies². This was Mogadiscio, the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, before the war.

Today, when the world thinks of Somalia, it imagines piracy, insecurity, famine. But the 10,000 cassettes saved in the basements of Hargeisa tell another story: that of a country which, in the 1970s and 1980s, invented a hybrid sound as unique as it was avant-garde, blending pastoral traditions and global influences, and which today, in the diaspora and on the beaches of its former capital, is dancing again³.

A soil where speech makes music

Even before the appearance of electrified instruments, Somalia cultivated a millenary poetic tradition. Somali poetry, often accompanied by music, deals with love, politics, war and the lives of nomads. Pastoralists competed at night around camel herds with singing and clapping performances⁴.

The central instrument is the oud, a fretless Arabic lute that gathers the sound of all other traditional instruments⁵. Somali chordophones like the shareero and madhuube complete this soundscape, just as ashiko drums and tables do⁶. The dhaanto, ancestral folk song of the Ogaden clan, is played without instruments — clapping and rhythmic stomping — and precedes even Jamaican reggae according to some musicians⁷.

Did you know? Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta landed in Mogadiscio in 1331, one year after the conquest of Granada by the Spanish, and described the city as the richest and most powerful port in East Africa, a crossroads where Arab, Persian, Indian and Chinese markets flourished⁸.

Precursors: balwo, oud and pioneers (1940-1980)

Modern Somali popular music begins with the balwo, a style born in the early 1940s under the impetus of Abdi Sinimo, whose innovation and passion for music revolutionized the scene⁹. This style gave birth to the heelo, a more dance-oriented evolution¹⁰.

The most revered figure is Abdullahi Mohamed Mahmoud, nicknamed « Qarshe » (Father of Somali music). He introduced the kaban — another word for oud — as an accompaniment instrument for Somali songs, thus creating a modern sound integrating melody and tradition¹¹. His role is recognized as foundational, equal to those who launched highlife in Ghana¹².

On the oud side, the undisputed master is Ismael Hudeide (1928-2020), nicknamed the « king of oud ». Born in Somalia, raised in Yemen, he learned the Arabic lute there before becoming the most popular musician in his country. His 1975 performance at the Maison de la culture in Paris and his collaboration with the Italian label Dischi Ricordi made him the global ambassador of Somali music¹³.

Meanwhile, women gradually emerged in a deeply conservative country. Khadija Abdullahi Daleys (1935-2018), known as the « mother of Somali music », recorded in 1963 one of the country’s first records, which, in a deeply conservative Mogadiscio, was a revolution¹⁴.

The golden age: Mogadiscio disco (1970-1991)

In 1969, General Mohammed Siad Barre took power in a bloodless coup. His regime — first allied with the Soviet Union, then shifting to the United States in 1977¹⁵ — nationalized the music industry but, paradoxically, stimulated an unprecedented cultural efflorescence¹⁶.

Education rose from 5 to 24% literacy. High schools became artistic institutions. Schools produced groups that became legendary¹⁷. Mogadiscio pulses: the Al-Uruba hotel, the Juba hotel, the National Theatre attracted a youth hungry for new sounds¹⁸.

Iftiin Band installed its residence at the Al-Uruba and played polyrythmic funk, soul and reggae¹⁹. Waaberi Band, under the auspices of the national theatre, expressed nationalism with titles like Oktoobar waa tee, waa tumaa ? (« What is October, what is it? »), a school hymn that recounts Somali events of this month²⁰. Dur-Dur Band, created in 1981 by Abdillahi Ujeeri and Eise Dahir Qasim, fused dhaanto, psychedelic rock and Bollywood melodies, and became the most popular group²¹.

Women dominated this scene. « It was a miraculous era. People became open-minded. They realized it was Somali culture and that they admired us », explains Khadra Daahir, singer and former athlete²². Hibo Nuura recalls: « I faced no discrimination as a woman, not a single episode of negativity²³. »

Exile and Saved Archives (1991-2020)

In 1988, the aerial bombings of the North — the Hargeisa region, nicknamed Africa’s Dresden²³ — preceded the collapse of the Barre regime in 1991, plunging the country into a civil war that continues to this day. Musicians fled: to Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and then Europe and the United States²⁴.

The Somali Air Force bombed Hargeisa radio to prevent its use by the rebellion. But radio operators buried thousands of cassettes²⁵. These were sent to Djibouti and Ethiopia for safekeeping. Forty years later, they constitute the archive of 10,000 recordings held by the Red Sea Cultural Foundation in Hargeisa²⁶.

Ostinato Records, with researcher Nicolas Sheikholeslami, digitized these archives and published Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa in 2017, nominated for a Grammy Award²⁷. “Somalis are very aware of the power of their music and culture, but the whole world needs to know,” says Vik Sohonie²⁸.

Diaspora, Rap and New Wave (2000-2026)

The Somali diaspora is one of the richest culturally in the world. It includes communities in Minneapolis (the largest Somali community in the United States)²⁹, the United Kingdom, Toronto, Nairobi, and Dubai.

K’naan (born Keinan Abdi Warsame in 1978 in Mogadishu) fled the war in 1990 with his family to Toronto. He became a rapper, artist, and activist, won three Juno Awards, and his track “Wavin’ Flag” became the unofficial anthem of the 2010 World Cup³⁰. In 2023, he released “Refugee,” “to flip the meaning of the word refugee and make it something people would be proud to wear”³¹.

In the mid-2010s, Liban Noah, manager of Dur-Dur based in London, tracked down the surviving members of the group. Bassist Ujeeri lives in the United States, singer Qomal in Ethiopia, and keyboardist Karama in London. In 2011, they played in Southall, then toured Europe. In 2024, the Dur-Dur Band Int. performed at London’s Barbican Centre³². In 2018, Analog Africa reissued Volume 1 and Volume 2; the original members received royalties for the first time³³.

Somali rap, long stigmatized by conservatives³⁴, exploded in the 2020s. Sharma Boy (born in 1998 in Mogadishu) blends traditional Somali poetry with hip-hop, accumulating 130 million YouTube views and receiving a prize from the President of Djibouti³⁵. Freek, Somali-UAE, is the first to perform Arabic drill rap³⁶. Hanad Bandz (born in Somaliland, raised in Canada) has accumulated 30 million views for “Sameeyn”³⁷ — the global anthem of Somali youth, in the era of TikTok.

Other rising figures include: Isma IP, Didi Naji, Lil Baliil, Suldaan Seeraar (the “king of Somali music” at 33)³⁸. The dhaanto genre has regained its prestige, and amapiano is penetrating Somali rap³⁹.

A Dancing Future

In 2024, Hargeisa offers shows for $15 at its only live club, Hiddo Dhawr, decorated as a traditional nomadic tent⁴⁰. Mogadishu is rebuilding its National Theatre⁴¹. Young Somalis in Minneapolis, Stockholm, and London listen to Hanad Bandz, Sharma Boy, and Dur-Dur. “Our dream is to bring the group home one day,” says Liban Noah⁴².

Somali music did not survive the war. It anticipated it, recorded it, buried it, rediscovered it, and rebuilt it. From the oud of Hudeidi to Hanad Bandz’s 808 basses, from Iftiin to Dur-Dur, from Mogadishu to London, it is a story of hybridity and resistance — and perhaps the one that best summarizes Somalia in the 21st century⁴³.

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