Situated on the eastern-most part of Africa with Kenya to the southwest, Yemen to the north, Ethiopia to the west, and the Indian Ocean to the east, Somalia has been a center of trade since ancient times. Recorded in a U.N. compound in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, Baijun Ballads: Somali Songs in Swahili presents historic and contemporary songs of marriage, lullabies, love-poems, prayer, and two ancient chants from the Baijun peoples. Islanders descended from Bantu, Arabic, Persian, and Somali ethnic groups, the Baijun sing in classical Swahili and an Arabic-Swahili dialect.