Dur Dur BandDur-Dur Volume 3 (1988) & 4 (1989) Vinyl 2LP

In the 1980s, Mogadishu was home to one of East Africa’s most vibrant music scenes. Nightclubs, hotels and theatres filled with the sound of ambitious young musicians blending Somali melodies with funk, disco, reggae, soul and jazz. At the centre of that movement was Dur-Dur Band — a group whose recordings would later travel far beyond Somalia’s borders and find new audiences decades after they were made.

Drummer Adan Handal, alongside childhood friend Isse Dahir Qassim, brought some of Mogadishu’s finest young talents together to explore new directions in Somali popular music. That idea gave birth to Dur-Dur Band. Drawing inspiration from Somali traditions as well as international influences, Dur-Dur created music that was both deeply local and remarkably modern.

Their early cassette releases — Volumes 1 and 2 — quickly spread across Somalia. But it was with Volumes 3 and 4 that the band reached its creative peak. Recorded under difficult circumstances, these albums captured a group pushing against every limitation: experimenting with rhythms, arrangements and studio techniques while facing personal losses and a country moving toward crisis.

Volume 4 became one of Dur-Dur’s most adventurous recordings — combining electronic percussion, unusual drum textures and reggae-inspired grooves with the unmistakable spirit of Somali music.

Today, Dur-Dur Band’s music has travelled further than anyone could have imagined — from Somalia’s dance halls to listeners around the world. Their recordings are more than a document of a vanished era; they are proof of a musical creativity that survived war, displacement and decades of silence.

For Adan Handal, the only musician to appear on every Dur-Dur recording, the story of the band is ultimately the story of a sound that refused to disappear.