music

In 2019, after negotiations spanning many years, Ostinato Records became the first label granted access to the grand Archives of Radiodiffusion-Télévision de Djibouti (RTD), a vault of secrets and stories from East Africa. The first result in our Djibouti Archives series is a seminal anthology of 4 Mars, a 40-member Somali supergroup behind the most streamed and downloaded track on our Grammy-nominated Sweet As Broken Dates compilation.

Pilon combined searing estilo Krioulu drumming and the hybrid ColaZouk style with blissful synth work and rugged guitar licks, creating a stripped-down, addictive sound that masterfully straddled two worlds, a seductive electro-Funaná carnival born from the first few sips of hot milk.

Star Band is a music group from Senegal that was the resident band of Dakar's Miami Club.They were formed in 1959 by the owner of the Miami Club, Ibra Kasse. As was typical in Africa at the time, Kasse owned the instruments and was the band leader of the Star Band although he only occasionally played piano.

Alongside the story of Somalia’s music before the civil war, the selection is also focused on the pan-Somali sound. Spread over much of the Horn of Africa, Somali language and culture transcend arbitrary borders. Somali singers from Djibouti were at home in Mogadishu. Female singers, often more prolific than their male counterparts, are inseparable from its evolution. Half the compilation is sung by women, their voices often compared in Somali poetry to the sweetness of broken dates. Poetry, intrinsic to the cultural fabric, forms the foundation of Somali songwriting. This compilation seeks to revive the rightful image, history, and identity of the Somali people, detached from war, violence, piracy, and the specter of a persistent threat. These 15 tracks should serve as a necessary starting point. ★★★★ - The Guardian, "A mega mixtape of Somali classics." - BBC, "Sparkles with superior voices, superb musicians and both familiar & refreshingly new sounds." - Wall Street Journal, "This record is a miracle. A legacy of the past that blurs the trauma of the present." - Le Monde, "Perhaps the most beautiful music in the world, finally rediscovered." - Radio Nova Paris, No. 2 on Europe's World Music Charts (October 2017)

Through 18 diverse tracks, this compilation reveals how immigration from the Cape Verde Islands to Europe and the United States gave us an alternate history of the electronic music that dominated hearts and minds across the world in the late 1990s. But the story doesn’t start in a major Western cultural hub, rather in the small cluster of islands 400 miles off the Senegalese coast, and offers an unparalleled insight into the long-term cultural splendor catalyzed by migration. "As much a surprise and a perfectly paced seductive dance party." - NPR; "An homage to the music of migrants of Cape Verde" - VICE; "Easily one of the most intriguing and ear-opening records I've heard in a long time" - Errol Nazareth, CBC Radio (Canada)

In Sudan, the political and cultural are inseparable. In 1989, a coup brought a hardline religious government to power. Music was violently condemned. This compilation celebrates the golden sound of the capital, Khartoum. "A stunning journey through the golden age of Sudanese music and song" - Le Monde; "Undeniably, addictively uplifting and jive-inducing” -- Scene Noise; "Drenched with deep rhythmic drum kicks and gorgeous Nubian rhythms" - Stamp the Wax

Ostinato Records focuses on the music of Abu Obaida Hassan, an artist who makes complex blend of folk and roots with Arab melodies, Nubian rhythms with signature Sudanese 'call-and-response' - a legend of Shaigiya music from nothern Sudan! Essential release! The world needs more tracks of Abu Obaida Hassan's - BBC Newsday