Ostinato US Vinyl & CDs

Review: Iftin is a band from Somalia that has a cult status amongst those who know. This is the first-ever retrospective of their music and it has taken seven years to get together. The music is taken from cassettes recorded between 1982 and 1987 at Al-Uruba hotel's secret studio. They were often performed for crowds in the basement of Somalia's national theatre and mix up Banaadiri rhythms from the south of Somalia, vocalists from Mogadishu and reggae-styled guitar riffs from Dhaanto all powered by brass that bends the traditions of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Truly world music.

Review: In a stroke of ingenuity Noori found a neck of a guitar whilst rummaging through a Port Sudan scrapyard along the Red Sea Coast in the 90s. Using their welding talents they fixed it onto a traditional four stringed tambour, creating what may be the only tambo-guitar hybrid in the world. Beja Power! Is a love letter to the Beja culture, inherently political and almost erased by the former Sudanese leader. This historically rich niche of Afro-Jazz is both nostalgic and mystical. Elements of surf rock, electric blues and psychedelia can be heard in these instrumental tracks, a 6-track capsule of a powerful identity nearly lost to the sands of time. Noori & His Dorpa Band's style is authentic and evocative and is a joyful proclamation and demonstration of the magic that is Beja sound and aesthetic.