Traditional music and dance
Given the country's geographical location and history, Djibouti's music is unsurprisingly steeped in African, Arab and European influences. Although unique, traditional Afar and Somali music, for example, share a family resemblance with that of Ethiopia and the Arabian Peninsula. Beyond this play of mirrors, Djibouti's musical tradition has one major distinctive feature: the predominant role accorded to text. Made up of numerous poems and nomadic tales that have been set to song, the country's traditional music has always revolved around poetry. So, listening to a Djiboutian song is first and foremost hearing a text, paying attention to its writing and admiring its turns of phrase. Perhaps this has something to do with the country's oral tradition, with songs, poems and tales being vectors of nomadic knowledge. As a result, everyone here knows dozens of songs and poems, some of which have very ancient origins.
One genre particularly representative of this Djiboutian poetic essence is guux. A kind of traditional local blues, it can be recognized by its guttural vocals expressing the melancholy of the nomad. Otherwise, among the most common traditional songs is the malaabo from the town of Tadjourah. Reserved for women, who sing it in groups, it is sung at major family ceremonies: births, circumcisions, weddings... The lyrics are praises and compliments, addressed to the person being celebrated and their family. People sing, while dancing to the rhythm of a drum. The drum also accompanies the dabal dance. For certain ceremonies, dagger dances are performed by both men and women (the nacna, for example). Other dances and songs evoke or celebrate the arrival of rain or the departure for battle, such as the horra, an Afar warrior song.
On the whole, the accompanying music is often simple: drumming, hand-clapping and a chorus of the main voice. Simple, but highly effective and communicative. The drum has always played a key role. The Afar dinkara, consisting of a small and a large drum, has long been used as a messenger. Its coded rhythms announced events: the beginning and end of Ramadan, the death of the sultan, the New Year, and so on. The rest of Djibouti's traditional instrumentation includes the tanbura, which here refers to a lyre (and not a lute as in many countries) and sometimes the oud. In Djibouti, the use of these instruments is relatively recent. The introduction of Arab or European instruments is attributed to the Somali poet and composer Cabdilaahi Qarshe (1924-1997), who initiated modern song in the Horn of Africa.
Among the great names of traditional Djiboutian music, Abayazid Ali Dahabli won national recognition for his nomadic blues and simple Afar melodies accompanied by guitar, while Houssein Haylé became a star thanks to his unique style of traditional music such as dinkara, laale (traditional Afar dance) and saxag (seduction dance) mixed with zouk, reggae and soul.
While major festivities such as Independence Day bring their fair share of traditional music, some of the country's establishments regularly host them. Such is the case of L'Étoile de Kokeb, in Djibouti-Ville, a restaurant renowned both for its varied (and excellent) specialties and for Lewat, a dinner-show featuring folk dances.
Popular music
One of the country's most popular genres is balwo, a highly sentimental and poetically rich Somali style created in the mid-20th century by the illustrious artist Abdi Sinimo (1920-1967). Another popular genre (and of Somali origin) is qaraami, which appeared in the 1940s, fusing regional music with jazz, then soul and funk in the 1970s. Forgotten for a while, it regained some popularity in the 1990s thanks to Sarah Halgan, an excellent artist from Somaliland long exiled in France.
With the exception of a few music legends such as Abdi Nour Allaleh, it's safe to say that popular song here is a predominantly female genre. Many Djibouti women have made their mark on the public, such as Nima Djama, who was also involved in politics, Xabiiba Balbalaaf (1961-2020), a singer particularly renowned for the quality of her lyrics, and Fatouma Mansour. Born in 1968, Fatouma Mansour is one of the few Djiboutian artists to have embraced an international career. In addition to her solo successes, she is also famous for having founded Dinkara, with composer Moyalé, one of the country's leading groups. Long considered the spearhead of Djiboutian pop, Moyalé's unique style is somewhere between Afro-rock and Afar groove.
From the 1970s onwards, Djibouti's popular music began to be infused with foreign styles such as reggae, funk and zouk, a heterogeneous trend embodied by artists such as Roda Maash, a Somali singer born in 1963 who played with several of the country's leading groups, including Dinkara, and Aïdarous, a composer and singer famous for his fusion of Afar, jazz and world music. Two excellent albums documenting this mixed episode in Djiboutian music have recently been released by New York label Ostinato Records. In 2019, the latter gained access to the archives of the Radiodiffusion-Télévision de Djibouti (RTD), a real treasure trove that enabled it to release an anthology of the 4 Mars group, a 40-member ensemble whose music reflected the country's wealth of influences at the time - Somali, Egyptian and Yemeni rhythms, Sudanese musical structures, Turkish or Jamaican inspirations, jazz.. - as well as a compilation of hits by Groupe RTD, the national broadcaster's big band, whose music was also a confluence of flavors: reggae, Bollywood voices and ethiojazz brass. Today, Djibouti's new guard shines through its diaspora, like Shay Lia - whose real name is Shanice Dileita Mohamed - a Montreal-based R&B and soul artist considered a Canadian-Djiboutian Beyoncé. The Menelik, a trendy discotheque frequented by Djibouti's golden youth and expatriates alike, remains a night spot where the music is in full swing. But other venues, such as Vogue, a gourmet restaurant and lounge club, are taking the lead in offering live concerts.
