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Since 2016, Sohonie's New York-based imprint has released albums from Haiti and Cape Verde to Sudan and Somalia. You see it not only in the music they produce, but the music they imported.” “The government is the record label,” quipped Ostinato founder and label boss Vik Sohonie, speaking to TRT World from his home in Bangkok. It’s a heritage that’s been one of Djibouti’s best kept secrets until 2019, when independent label Ostinato Records became the first foreign entity to gain access to its prized national radio archive, which effectively houses the entire catalogue of Djiboutian music. This Red Sea shipping lane has historically made Djibouti not only a lucrative commercial hub, but a site of dynamic cultural exchange that imbued it with a vibrant cosmopolitanism, most notably expressed in its music. Tucked away in a corner of East Africa, it lies on the Gulf of Tadjoura, connecting the Mediterranean with Africa and Asia, and south of the Bab El Mandeb strait, a vital chokepoint through which nearly a third of global trade transits.

On the global stage, Djibouti seldom registers as more than a geostrategic frontier and begotten military outpost. Its digital restoration reveals a rich globalised sound and a past when music was fused with nation-building. In 2019, indie label Ostinato Records was given access to Djibouti's treasured national radio archive.