The day Somalia’s music died

Taking a page from the Taliban, Somalia’s Shabaab militants have effectively banned music from the radio in Somalia:

The BBC’s Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says the order to stop playing music and jingles was issued 10 days ago. All but two of the city’s 15 radio stations used to broadcast music. Residents can now only hear music from the government-controlled radio station and another Kenya-based UN-funded radio station, which has a FM transmitter in Mogadishu, he says.

"We are using other sounds such as gunfire, the noise of the vehicles and birds to link up our programmes and news," said Abdulahi Yasin Jama, Tusmo radio’s head of the programmes.

The above photo shows a member of the Somali pop group Waayah Cusub recording a track at a studio in Nairobi.