Dur Dur - Africa [somalia] [199?]

   R   E   U   P   L   O   A  D   

originally posted here : Likembe

Dur Dur – Somali Music from the 1980’s

       This is a cassette of Dur Dur, a group from Somalia which was very popular in the 1980’s. When I first listened to it I was amazed by the sound which resembled very much 1970’s funk music. 

       John at Likembe writes about similar experiences. He presents also a lot of more information about Dur Dur in a another posting.

       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, 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,Muktar, Abdinur and Qomal (or Komal). 

As with a lot of Somalian musicians and artists it is difficult to obtain mor e 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.

01. Dur Dur - Shered (5:35)

02. Dur Dur - Abasho (5:32)

03. Dur Dur - Shelede (3:47)

04. Dur Dur - Tarik (4:26)

05. Dur Dur - Africa (6:00)

06. Dur Dur - African Music (4:49)

07. Dur Dur - Ethiopian Girl (4:44)

08. Dur Dur - Goromphmca (5:56)

09. Dur Dur - Ledenay (5:08)

10. Dur Dur - Hak Somalk Dumark (3:36)

11. Dur Dur - Kennea (5:20)

12. Dur Dur - Absho (5:41)