Diabolic attacks from senior colleagues nearly made me leave the music industry – Singer Salawa Abeni

Waka music icon Salawa Abeni has opened up about challenges she faced early in her career, alleging that jealousy and what she described as “diabolical” acts by some senior colleagues nearly forced her out of the music industry.

The 65-year-old singer, popularly known as the “Queen of Waka Music,” began her professional career in 1976 with the release of her debut hit album, Late General Murtala Ramat Mohammed.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Rubbin’ Minds, Abeni recalled experiencing difficulties that included suddenly losing her voice and vomiting blood at different stages of her early career. She said her interest in music began when she was nine years old and that she regularly performed alongside older musicians who invited her to join them.

“So they (the elderly ones) would sing before I got there. But when it was time for me, they would give me a stool to stand on so my mouth could reach the microphone. So when it was time for me to sing, my brother, my voice would go. I couldn’t sing. Sometimes I would even vomit blood. But what could I do? It’s a long journey. There are a lot of obstacles. You know, how do I say it in Yoruba… in English, it’s jealousy. Yes. Like, ‘You, this small girl, who is your parent?

“Where did you come from?’ Let me give examples. Let’s say you’re a musician and I’m a musician. So you would be singing before I arrived, or I would be singing before you arrived. Then people would be shouting my name, ‘The young girl, Salawa Abeni, has arrived!’ People would leave where they were to come to my side. We would be facing each other. But that is jealousy. It’s a strong thing to say people are diabolical. Well, that is it. That is exactly it.”

Abeni claimed that some of the obstacles she encountered were the result of diabolical acts by senior colleagues, saying she did not regard the experiences as mere superstition. She recalled an occasion when she and her band waited backstage for another group to finish performing before taking their turn.

“Diabolical is not superstition. Let me take you back to one experience. They would sing before I arrived, but my band was there too, so we decided to wait for each other. When they started their own performance, I sat down, and we watched. When it was my turn to sing, our amplifier back then used to connect all the microphones to bring out our voice, our tone, so that nobody could listen to me, nobody could hear me. That’s another one again.”

The singer also recounted another incident in which she claimed rain suddenly began falling specifically where she was performing, disrupting the audience watching her.

“Another time, we went together to play. As you sat, I sat down here. When it was my turn, as you were sitting here and I was sitting here, I couldn’t sit down because I was very small; if I sat down, my mouth wouldn’t reach the microphone. So I had to stand up. Oh my God, from my own side, as we sat beside each other, very close like this, rain suddenly started falling right where I was standing, so that people who wanted to watch Salawa Abeni would run away. It is tough,” she added.

Abeni has released several songs during her decades-long career and has become one of Nigeria’s prominent waka musicians. Her notable releases include Iba Omode Iba Agba, Shooting Stars, We Are The Children, Maradonna, Cheer Up and Beware.