{"id":113267,"date":"2022-10-12T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=113267"},"modified":"2022-10-11T18:07:11","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T16:07:11","slug":"iftin-band-mogadishu-finest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/iftin-band-mogadishu-finest\/","title":{"rendered":"Mogadishu\u2019s Finest: nostalgia from the Iftin Band\u2019s Somalia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Out November 18th, Mogadishu\u2019s Finest : The Al-Uruba Sessions<\/em> is a curation of the some of the best work from Somali 1980\u2019s group Iftin Band.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 80\u2019s, in the heart of Somalia\u2019s capital, there’s a band that attracts all audiences. Everywhere from private parties in luxurious hotels to public theatres, every music lover living or visiting Mogadishu wants to hear the Iftin Band live. The group quickly built a reputation from their eclectic and avant-garde sound. Vocally, through cords, winds and percussions, the band combines its Somali funk and dhaanto roots with American jazz, Nigerian afrobeats<\/a> and Kenyan benga. This ability to transcend genres and listeners owes Iftin Band a place of choice at the Al-Uruba hotel\u2019s prestigious parties. And in the hotel\u2019s secret studio, from 1982 to 1987, Iftin Band recorded the songs now compiled in a first-of-its-kind album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mogadishu\u2019s Finest : The Al-Uruba Sessions<\/em> is the result of seven years of research and digitalization, led by Ostinato Records\u2019s founder Vik Sohonie and researcher Nicolas Sheikholeslami. At the start of the civil war in Somalia in the 1990\u2019s, the original recordings left Al-Uruba\u2019s studio. The cassettes traveled all over Africa, from Nairobi to Djibouti and Dubai, and even in Europe. The compilation of Iftin Band\u2019s work is an exceptional occasion to rediscover one of the most important eras in Somalia\u2019s music history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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