Mogadisco: Dancing Mogadishu (1972-1991)

Imagine Somalia without suicide bombers and the murderous, al-Qaeda-linked militants of al-Shabaab. Picture instead Mogadishu as a part city in all its pre-war vitality, replete with luxury hotels, pavement cafés, dance-till-dawn discos and a vibrant music scene populated by bands thrillingly fusing local rhythms with Western funk and R&B. The dozen tracks here, unearthed by Analog Africa's Samy Ben Redjeb in the dust archives of Radio Mogadishu, which have somehow survived in the murderous chaos, were the soundtrack to that golden era. Some of the acts will be familiar, particularly the Dur-Dur Band, whose 1980s funk fusion has already been the subject of two Analog Africa albums, and have reformed in exile in London with a refreshed line-up.

The work of the Iftin Band has also been reissued by various crate-digging labels. However, new to most will be the Éthiopiques-goes-reggae sound of Omar Shooli, the deep funk of Mukhtar Ramadan Idii's ‘Check Up Your Head’ (which borrows the rhythm of Jean Knight's 1971 US soul hit ‘Mr Big Stuf’) and the wailing voice of Fadumo Qassim backed by the swirling, Ethio-jazz of the Waaberi Band, whose 1972 track ‘Waakaa Helaa (I Like You)’ is the earliest selection here.