'Sweet as Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa' - THIS COMP OMG!

Thought I'd take this off the rolling outernational thread and into the wilds of ILM because honestly, it's all that seems to be getting played in my house.
Played it to my housemate who in turn played it to all his friends and it feels like everyone who hears it agrees it's something ridiculously special.
What amazes me is that comps like this can be patchy with only one or two stand-out tracks. Each song on the double album has something that makes it unique.

I'm absolutely in love with this one, Aamina Camaari - 'Rag Waa Nacab Iyo Nasteexo'. The vamp on the strings, the almost Indian-sounding vocal, the funkiness of the groove. It's beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdQSxK_ukrk

There aren't a lot of Youtube clips online but the song, 'Qays Iyo Layla' (Romeo and Juliet) is another highlight that you can hear in this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsMgxKFUgeU

But really just give this a listen there's something for everyone here.

I realise I'm being a street team here but I'm evangelical about this record.

completely otm. I considered starting a "recent African reissues" thread based off loving this so much and wanting to hear more 80s-ish stuff (as opposed to the 70s afro-funk that kind of dominated the earlier reissue wave), but it is as you say "ridiculously special."

Agreed on the Aamina Camaari being a stand out, but putting that Nimco Jamaac song on first was a brilliant move--as soon as I hear that synth I can't turn it off

Yeah that synth is great. Sits really nicely next to the Alice Coltrane spiritual music reissue from last year which uses a similar sort of sound

It's also worth checking out the Dur Dur Band's album that came out (or was reissued?) a few years ago. They feature on here.

this rules

Ha yeah I hadn't really thought to make that connection before, but I have been listening to this and the Coltrane a lot the past few months. Thanks for the Dur Dur Band tip!

'Haddi Hoobalkii Gabay' by Hibo Nuura (track 4) is also pretty special. I really want to sample the intro bar cos it sounds exactly like 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' by St Etienne. More interesting is the mindbending time signature and the male choir that just seems to interject at points that I, as a musically illiterate mortal, will never quite understand.

Talking of samples, the Sharaf Band's 'Kadeed Badanaa Naftaydani' is like an old school hip hop producer's dream come true.

Still fecking awesome FYI

Banning Eyre presents this comp and backstory pretty well here, also provides his own link to HipDeep audio doc in this post:http://www.afropop.org/38807/sweet-as-broken-dates-lost-somali-tapes-from-the-horn-of-africa/"> http://www.afropop.org/38807/sweet-as-broken-dates-lost-somali-tapes-from-the-horn-of-africa/

Afropop Worldwide continues to be one of the richest resources, deepest troves etc.

cheers dow

This one is a sleeper hit. Killing me today. The lazy hip hop-style break, the brief breakdown at 3:14 and the way the groove just pumps back in...

Sorry, this one: https://ostinatorecords.bandcamp.com/track/kadeed-badanaa-naftaydani-my-life-is-full-of-tribulations

the new Dur Dur Band volumes on Analog Africa are A++++ by the way.

I started listening to Ostinato's recentish comp of Sudanese music, Two Niles to Sing a Melody, this morning that should be of interest here (though it's not as delirium-inducing as Broken Dates): https://ostinatorecords.bandcamp.com/album/two-niles-to-sing-a-melody-the-violins-synths-of-sudan

thanks rob, gonna check it

I love this, this stuff is like catnip to me. My interest was piqued immediately because the album Abdel Aziz El Mubarak cut in London in 1987 was a big favorite of mine back in the day. But where his track on this comp is slow, that album was very much uptempo (wedding party material, I guess). The Kamal Tarbas, Zaidan Ibrahim and Taj Makki tracks here are in a similar wheelhouse, but with a less cleanly/clearly recorded sound.

That album is on Spotify too (along with two others of his that I’m not familiar with). I can’t recommend it enough, such a feel-good (and elegant!) record:
https://open.spotify.com/album/3GSWzFJZ0lgJAFrNOv9l8d?si=VYMdW6bLT0-lWyPr_GK5Iw
(note the slightly different transliterations of his name: “Abdel Aziz *El* Mubarak” vs “Abdel (El) Aziz *Al* Mubarak”)

Faves on this new compilation include Saied Khalifa’s “Igd Allooli” and Abdelmoniem Ekhaldi’s “Droob Ashoag”. That last one sounds so surprisingly 80s! It’s one of the 3 (I think) tracks with synths. The Kraftwerk-al-Arabiyyah (or is it Visage?) of the “Elhabeeb Wain?” interlude is very cute. (The third one, track 14, I like a lot less).

Okay, one track from that El Mubarak album. “Tahrimni Minnak” is just so joyful-sounding:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eKn65a6sEM

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2771787995_10.jpg

Fans of 'Broken Dates' take note, Analog Africa are about to release this: https://analogafrica.bandcamp.com/album/mogadisco-dancing-mogadishu-somalia-1972-1991

...putting that Nimco Jamaac song on first was a brilliant move--as soon as I hear that synth I can't turn it off

Having never heard the Sweet Broken Dates compilation before I put it on last night and yeah holy shit at that synth! Listened to about half way through the comp and it seems all-killer-no-filler as dog latin claims it to be upthread.

There should be more talk about this amazing compilation. I've been listening to it every morning and I never get tired of it. What's Sweet Broken Dreams?

Oh, duh, I didn't see the previous 22 posts. Off to buy this, then

That Mogadisco comp upthread is decent too. Dur Dur Band would have been as big as the Beatles if the world were a fair place