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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: THE WOMEN IN NIGERIAN MUSIC

Nigerian music’s history is beautifully storied, and like every great story has had heroes pop up at different times, each handing the baton of Nigerian culture from one generation to the next and laying a small piece of the success it enjoys today. When magnifying glasses are placed on Nigeria's music with the intention of highlighting its most significant contributors, it is very common for our women to get left out. The reasons for this oversight—the relative scarcity of female acts in comparison to male counterparts—is no excuse. If anything, the women who have made their fair share of efforts to shape our music deserve a bigger spotlight, for they had to overcome the more prominent barriers to get there, barriers placed by a patriarchal society and increase the further back you go in our history. Barriers that have not been completely cleared even today.

With today's women breaking and setting records across gender lines, the International Women's Day of 2023 presents a poignant opportunity to document the strides our women make in modern music, while highlighting in retrospect the talented, underreported women who came before.

While Fuji music and its lesser-known affiliate, Apala, were dominating the local scene in the '70s and bringing to their creators like Wasiu Ayinde Marshall, Ayinde Barrister and Ayinde Kollington national fame, another Yoruba-Islamic genre, Waka, was traditionally performed by female artists. It was drawn from Alasatu, a Yoruba genre with strong Islamic and Arabic influences, and Alhaja Batile Alake fashioned Waka out of it, allowing the genre to escape the confines of religion and tribe. Another prominent female singer, Alhaja Salawa Abeni, built on this, bringing Waka to national platforms and beyond.

The Ladiju sisters (or twins) are a pair of female artists whose contributions to Nigerian music remain timeless. Their debut album, Iya Mi Jowo, was released in 1969, and they went on to release 5 more albums that were ahead of their time in content and sound, as they drew from a wide pool of influences that included foreign sounds like Jazz and Rock as well as the indigenous like Waka and Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat.

Across the Niger, the women of South Eastern Nigeria were making similarly impressive strides of their own. Nelly Uchendu is most famous for her Love Nwantiti album of 1976, especially the eponymous lead single. She was not the only Igbo songstress to be renowned for her singing prowess. The “Elegant Stallion”, Onyeka Onwenu excelled even beyond writing and performing music, as she took up roles as an actress, worked as a broadcaster and even delved into politics as part of a storied career, putting to bed question marks placed over a woman’s capability. Christy Essien-Igbokwe chose to put her inspiring messages of woman empowerment and Nigerian advocacy into song, and these female artists performing at the top level helped imprint in the next generation that chauvinistic gender roles were a thing of the past.

Modern Nigerian (Pop) music, or Afrobeats, has featured a larger share of women at the highest echelons at every stage, and it must be acknowledged that they have all but caught up in terms of individual star power.

Weird MC was one of a few artists to first nationalise American hip-hop spirit. Her 1996 album, Simply Weird, and its standout track, "Allen Avenue", helped dress up rap music in the Nigerian clothing it decks today. 2006's "Ijoya" took her popularity a lot further, and it remains a timeless classic to this day. Asa's musical inclination was similarly unconventional, but it lay at the other end of the spectrum, as her R&B/Soul-powered eponymous debut album announced the entry of a new star. With it she strengthened her image abroad, ensuring that she enjoys today an audience beyond the shores of Nigeria. Thankfully her talent came with longevity, and her most recent album, released in 2022, still serenades Nigerians like her first effort did 15 years before.

Subsequent acts would hone in on conventional Nigerian pop, which they coloured with their honeyed vocals. Omawunmi made her debut with 2009's Wonder Woman, fresh off becoming a runner-up on Nigerian Idol where she had launched a prototype of her career. With singles like "In The Music", "Bottom Belle" and "If You Ask Me", her star appeal was never in doubt, and with her most recent album Love Deep High Life only two years old, her diminished popularity should not be taken for hibernation. Waje, another singer blessed with incredible vocals, emerged around the same time, first making a guest appearance on Psquare's "Do Me" in 2008 before songs like "So Inspired" and "For A Minute" served as a proper entry into the scene. Just like Omawunmi, she remains an active member of Nigerian music's ranks, as her latest album, "The Misfit", debuted last year.

At the turn of the decade, Tiwa Savage moved in from the UK, pitching her tent with Don Jazzy's Mavins Music after she had spent the last few years providing back up vocals to icons like George Michael and Mary J. Blige. Her adaptation did not take long, as her superb debut album, Once Upon A Time,—with songs like "Kele Kele Love", "Eminado" and "Without My Heart"—showcased equally her supple songwriting and her silky, yet powerful delivery. She is one of a few acts in Nigerian music, across gender lines, who have ruled the last decade in near-constant influence, and with her ability to tie effortlessly into new and trendy music (see: "Loaded" with Asake and " Who's your guy" remix with Spyro), there is still a lot more to come from the songstress.

Seyi Shay is another act that shares a common history of finding her feet in music in the United Kingdom. She moved to Nigeria at about the same time, and her first steps here—"Irawo" and its Vector-assisted remix; the Loving Your Way EP; and her debut album, Seyi Or Shay—were very well received by the Nigerian audience. Her most recent release, 2021's Big Girl, came with positive acclaim, especially its titular lead single. Yemi Alade's "Johnny" brought with it an impact that every artist desires for their breakout single, and to this day its video continues to accumulate astronomical numbers as more and more people from around the world discover the self-styled Mama Africa. To strengthen her claim to this title, she has released music in a variety of African languages, allowing her to tap into diverse cultures and strengthen her continental profile.

Simi, the woman with the voice that soothes sometimes and strikes other times, also made her debut in the half decade between 2010 and 2014, a time period that supplied female acts in buckets, some of whom still enjoy a continued presence at Nigeria's top flight. She debuted in 2014 with "Tiff", doubling down on this entrance with "Jamb Question" in 2015 as she checked 'playful storytelling' as part of her skillset. With each album since then she has gone on to provide an inspiration to any female acts entering the industry. Sisters Niniola and Teni share little more than a surname, but their varied musical paths have individually brought them to the top flight of Nigerian music's roster. Niniola was one of Nigeria's first adopters of House music, though some articles on the subject will disrespectfully leave her out altogether. Her accolades speak for her though, and she earned a Grammy songwriting certificate via 2017's Maradona, which Beyoncé sampled for her Lion King: The Gift album. Her most recent EP, Lagos to Jozi, builds on her vibrancy and innovation, weaving Nigerian slang into South African beats for a dance-ready project.

Her sister, Teni, is the more exuberant artist off-stage, and her music is a more straightforward affair involving Nigerian Pop rhythms and love-strung writing. Clearly a vigorous romantic, 2018's "Case" outlined the lengths she was willing to go to for love, while 2019's "Power Rangers" imagined herself as a superhero coming to her lover's rescue. She also has an inspiring side, as revealed by "Uyo Meyo", and a balance of these two has driven her to recognition in Nigerian music.

The biggest strides taken for Nigerian women in music, especially on the international stage, would come on the wings of one of its newest entrants. 27 year old Tems has achieved in four short years what would be an impressive resumé for an artist's entire career—a Grammy win, an Oscar nomination and collaborations with some of the biggest artists in the world. All this is made that much more impressive by the fact that she is still yet to release a debut album, and when it arrives later this year it is expected to push her career to unprecedented heights.

Behind Tems are a band of other female acts. Young, talented and eager to break down what is left of Nigerian music's gender tilt and level rhe playing field. Ayra Starr's exploits in Mavin records have produced an EP and an album, and with them she's made a name for females and teenagers in Nigerian music. While this is only a summary of the very many women that have graced Nigerian music for years, it is hoped that with other young acts like Fave, Liya, Guchi and Bloody Civilian making their way up the ladder, next years International Women's Day will feature an even lengthier list than this.

This article was written by Afrobeats City Contributor Ezema Patrick - @ezemapatrick (Twitter)

Afrobeats City doesn’t own the right to the images - image source: Instagram

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