Arts, heritage and media
Somali bands: Waaberi, Iftin, Shareero, Dur-Dur, Waayaha Cusub and others
The big Somali bands of the 1960s to 1980s were mostly state troupes tied to a ministry, the army or a radio station: Waaberi (Radio Mogadishu and the National Theatre), Iftin (Education Ministry), Horseed, Halgan and Onkod. Hargeisa had the Walaalo Hargeisa band from the 1950s. Private bands such as Dur-Dur played Mogadishu's hotels in the 1980s. After 1991, groups like Waayaha Cusub formed in exile.
Bands as theatre companies
In Somali performing arts, music and drama go together, so a theatre company is called a "band". The big bands of the 1970s and 1980s each belonged to a state body (National Theatre of Somalia, Wikipedia).
Walaalo Hargeisa (1950s)
In the mid-1950s Abdullahi Qarshe and Hussein Aw Farah founded the Walaalo Hargeisa (Hargeisa Brothers) band. Qarshe was the first Somali to sing while playing the oud, and the band added flute, violin and tambourine (Music In Africa). Radio Hargeisa was its stage (Geeska, 2025).
Waaberi
Waaberi ("sunrise") grew out of the Radio Artists Association and was backed by the government as part of the National Theatre. Wikipedia says it took the name Waaberi after the 1969 coup, and that it was formed by joining the Radio Mogadishu band with the army's General Da'ud band (Waaberi, Wikipedia; National Theatre of Somalia, Wikipedia). Its artists included Magool, Saado Cali, Xasan Aadan Samatar, Ali Feiruz, Abdullahi Qarshe, Maryam Mursal, Hassan Sheikh Mumin and Abdi Ali "Bacalwaan". Waaberi toured Egypt, Sudan and China and played FESTAC '77 in Lagos (Music In Africa). It continued as a private group into the 1990s, played the WOMAD festival in England in 1997, toured North America in 1998, and recorded an album with the Egyptian percussionist Hossam Ramzy (Wikipedia; AllMusic).
Other state bands
- Iftin belonged to the Ministry of Education and also trained school teachers in music (Wikipedia). It went private in the early 1980s and played at the Al-Uruba hotel (Music In Africa).
- Horseed existed before independence as Ex-bana Estro.
- Halgan, Onkod and Shareero also performed at the National Theatre (Wikipedia).
Mogadishu's club bands
Dur-Dur Band and Shareero mixed Somali song with funk, jazz, reggae and Arab music in the hotels of 1980s Mogadishu (Music In Africa). Dur-Dur's 1987 tape Volume 5 was reissued in 2013, and its song "Gorof" went viral in 2025 (Dur-Dur Band, Wikipedia).
Tapes saved and reissued
- 2017: Ostinato Records released Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa, which was nominated for a Grammy (Quartz).
- 2019: Analog Africa released Mogadisco: Dancing Mogadishu, Somalia 1972–1991 (Dur-Dur Band, Wikipedia).
Waayaha Cusub
Waayaha Cusub ("The New Era") is a collective led by the singer Falis Abdi Mohamud. Its songs spoke against al-Shabaab, and one member, Shine Akhyar, was shot and wounded in Nairobi in 2007 by suspected militants. In 2013 it organised the Reconciliation Music Festival in Mogadishu, the first international music festival in the capital since the civil war began. In October 2014 the band sought asylum in the Netherlands after Kenyan officials took its members' refugee cards as they left Nairobi for a peace concert in Amsterdam (BBC News, 14 October 2014; Waayaha Cusub, Wikipedia).
Read more
Sources
- National Theatre of Somalia, Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Music In Africa · musicinafrica.net
- Geeska, 2025 · geeska.com
- Waaberi, Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- AllMusic · allmusic.com
- Dur-Dur Band, Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Quartz · qz.com
- BBC News, 14 October 2014 · bbc.com
- Waayaha Cusub, Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
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Where this matters
- Muqdisho (Mogadishu) and BanaadirMogadishu (Muqdisho) is Somalia's capital and makes up the Banadir region, with about 2.97 million people in 20 districts.
- Hargeysa (Hargeisa) and Woqooyi GalbeedWoqooyi Galbeed is the north-western region that holds Hargeisa (Hargeysa) and the port of Berbera, with about 1 to 1.45 million people.
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