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Buried Audio Archive Saved From Bombing
- Radio staff in Hargeisa packed thousands of cassettes and reel-to-reel recordings and carried them into an underground room as bombing began.
- They sealed the bunker and left, saving a unique audio archive that stayed buried for years.
Orality Shapes Somali Cultural Memory
- Somali history and culture are primarily oral and transmitted through songs and poems rather than books.
- The cassette tape became a vital medium for preserving and circulating Somali oral heritage after the Somali script adoption.
State Support Fueled A Golden Musical Age
- President Siad Barre's government institutionalized music by funding state bands as part of a socialist cultural program.
- That state support unintentionally produced a musical renaissance in the 1970s–80s despite the propaganda aims.