Meeting the Dancing Devils
How Vik Sohonie discovered and recorded the first internationally-released Djiboutian albums
The small nation of Djibouti declared independence from France in 1977, and for the first 42 years of its history its music was not available to foreign markets. Vik Sohonie, founder of the indie label Ostinato Records, is the man who changed that. Ostinato has established for itself a niche of releasing music from countries usually ignored by larger labels, with compilations of music from such places as Haiti and Cabo Verde. Ostinato’s process is more than one of extraction — they partner with archives in these nations and assist with modernization, while also spreading the music to global markets. In 2016, Sohonie was working on a compilation of Somali music called Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa, and found that some of the recordings he’d compiled had copyright information linked to Djibouti. Intrigued, he decided to ask the Djiboutian embassy if he could explore the nation’s music.
“If you’re working with music in Africa, it’s very important that you don’t constrain yourself to modern borders, because musics are dictated by groups of people, and groups of people are spread across many countries, and so I knew I had to go to Djibouti.”
Sohonie met with diplomatic officials, and was eventually escorted to the national radio archive, which was much larger than he expected. He met with the national radio director, who handed him a flash drive of music. In 2019, Ostinato returned to Djibouti with the permission to release music and help modernize the extensive national radio archive, making them the first record label authorized to release Djiboutian music to foreign markets. Sohonie described why this was the case:
“I don’t think anyone has presented [the terms of releasing music] the way we did—a lot of times, what happens in Africa is you have these European aid agencies that go in there and say, ‘We’re from Europe, and we know best, and you don’t know anything.’ It’s very condescending, it’s very colonial, and our proposal was a lot more substantive.”
Graphic by Melia Allen
This trip would lead to the release of two albums that have introduced many international listeners to the music of Djibouti. Music has been important to Djibouti since it declared independence, as the government encouraged music in the country by giving major government departments their own bands. The nation also has a distinct style, with a cosmopolitan feel that separates it from other East African music. This character is due to Djibouti’s location and historical importance in maintaining trade routes — with a harsh climate, Djibouti’s economy is almost solely derived from its status as a port on the Red Sea, but its importance to Red Sea trade routes stretches back thousands of years, bringing worldwide influences to Djiboutian tradition. As Sohonie explains:
“East Africa and the Somalian-Swahili coast — Djibouti, all the way down to Tanzania — is where Europe, Asia, Africa begin and end. If I were to present a historical case for what was the center of the ancient world I would just play Djiboutian music because it is indisputable evidence. You have Mediterranean, Turkish, Egyptian, Yemeni, Indian, Persian influences, and what I love the most is it goes as far as the farthest of the East of Asia.”
The albums Ostinato released would have garnered some attention just for their historical status, but the quality and singularity of the music is what really makes this a story. The first Djiboutian album Ostinato released was The Dancing Devils of Djibouti by Groupe RTD, which surprisingly features a contemporary band and not a selection from the archive. Most of Groupe RTD’s songs feature a repetitive, pentatonic saxophone riff trading bars with a vocalist over a funky drumbeat, with guitar and synthesizer accents. Each member of the band plays a distinct part, and none is the disproportionate focus. The cosmopolitan nature of Djibouti music and modern instrumentation distinguish this album from other East African music — the pentatonic melodies are similar to those you might hear in Somalia, but you can hear elements of jazz and funk that evoke a more global sound.
Groupe RTD are the official band of the Djiboutian national radio, a super-group established by the former director to be the conduit by which Djiboutian music would travel across the globe. However, before Ostinato arrived, they mostly played at state ceremonies.
“When they were not performing national songs, they were jamming in their studio, that’s when we first [heard] them and said ‘Holy crap, these guys are just not anything we’ve ever heard before.’”
Sohonie chose to release this album before anything from the archives for a couple of reasons. Firstly, he wanted to establish the label in the territory of releasing contemporary artists. He also thought the album would make a real statement and would be a testament to the quality of music from Djibouti:
“We also thought ‘Dancing Devils’ was really gonna smack people, because they were gonna listen to it and say ‘Damn, this is great. Oh wait, this is new?’ I remember some of the reviews saying ‘If this was a record that was recorded in the 1970s, it would be one of the most collectible records ever.’”
Ostinato Records’ second, and most recent, release from Djibouti was a selection from the archives by the band 4 Mars. The album, initially recorded in the 1970s and 1980s, is called Super Somali Sounds from the Gulf of Tadjoura. 4 Mars were the national band of Djibouti in the period after the nation’s independence, broadcasting messages of unity and hope on behalf of the governing political party. The album has low sound quality, but otherwise sounds very modern. Similarly to Dancing Devils, it’s based around pentatonic melodies and funky drum grooves, though more instruments play the melody on this album. The instrumentation is also similar to Groupe RTD’s, featuring synthesizers, horns, and electric guitars. These are joined by either call-and-response or unison vocals from male and female singers. The low sound quality enhances the feeling that this is an unearthed treasure, and the powerful grooves are easily able to shine through.
Sohonie was first introduced to 4 Mars when researching Somali music, with a song of theirs featured on the Sweet as Broken Dates compilation, and so he was drawn to their music when perusing the national radio archive.
“I knew 4 Mars was 100% what I wanted to release, because they played a very strong role in keeping this country together in the early years of independence. Djibouti said ‘the best way to [build national unity] is through 4 Mars… It’s gonna be a badass band that’s gonna really capture people’s ears and hearts.’”
Sohonie’s second trip to Djibouti was limited to producing those two releases, but he anticipates many records to come from the country, as the label has invested in a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with the national radio.
“We’re building a long term partnership and we’re also engaging in a very different way of releasing music from the Global South. In a way we’ve contributed to the preservation of one of the largest archives in Africa, and we’ve managed to release an album, put this small country’s music on the map so to speak, and even the president of the country recognized that.”
On his next trip to Djibouti, Sohonie plans to release another volume with the Groupe RTD, as well as more archive material. In terms of other ventures for the label, he recently returned from a fruitful trip to Sudan, during which he recorded four different bands, all from different regions.
“What we’re trying to do when we go to a country now is not just the old music, but also what’s happening contemporarily… It’s about even deeper immersion into a country, we are very committed to really capturing the whole story now, going to every corner and finding the best stuff that exists there.”
Recording and releasing African music is an inherently complicated process, with the legacy of colonialism looming large over any interactions between Western labels and African musicians. Djibouti has regarded such asks with skepticism, but when they met Vik Sohonie and Ostinato Records they recognized a level of compassion and partnership that they hadn’t encountered before. This has resulted in an arrangement where everyone wins: Djibouti gets access to up-to-date recording technology and gains a bit of recognition for its culture, Ostinato gets several impressive albums to add to their catalog, and enjoyers of African music get great new releases to enjoy.
Edited by Maia Driggers, editor of Music History
Cover art by Melia Allen