Mogadishu’s Finest: The Al​-​Uruba Sessions

Along with Dur Dur Band, Iftin were the Golden Era’s biggest group and were known for their raucous gigs that attracted large crowds of locals and tourists at the iconic Al​-​Uruba hotel. Originally founded by the Ministry of Education in the 1970s during Siad Barre’s regime, which focused on rebuilding Somali culture after independence, Iftin later became a private band, and their music was a powerful blend of Southern Somali Banaadiri rhythms and reggae-like Dhaanto electrified by smoldering bass riffs, psychedelic moog lines, and vigorous brass.