Husnaa notes it is up to us the rest of the public to positively encourage, even if this scene is not part of Hausa culture per se and u will eventually find some bigots who will tell u that this is anti Islamic
For some reason, there is no such fear with regards to Hausa music. The Hausa film industry and the Hausa literary circles faced a lot of flak from the culturalist establishment when the industries started. The writers, who arrived first, were accused of encouraging immoral thoughts in the minds of young and impressionable teenagers with their pre-occupation with romantic themes in their novels. They were indeed labeled, Littattafan Soyayya. The Kano State Government actually set up a censorship committee in 1996 to regulate the writers, but they could not do much.
The filmmakers who started in 1990 soon enough faced similar flak from the culturalists, leading to a temporary ban on the industry in 2001 and the setting up of a censorship board to protect "the morals of our children", particularly from the skimpy dresses the Hausa-speaking girls (lNONE of the the female dancers and singers in Hausa films are Hausa) wear on stage, deliberately chosen to titilate young male audience.
Music, on the other hand, is well protected. How? By the virtue of the fact that religious groups -- Tijjaniya, Qadriyya -- rely heavily on music for their performances, using the frame drum (bandiri) as the main instrument. Now most of them have migrated to using the synthesizer (or what they all call the piano!). If any culturalist attempts to ban music, or if quote religious injunctions against Shaba's music, then they would firing a broadside on the entire spectrum of musical performances and production INCLUDING the Sufi music rituals. And somehow that will not happen. What they can argue against, though, is the contents of the LYRICS in the performances of modern Hausa musicians -- and so far they have been fairly clean -- intent on getting acceptance by communicating youth awareness and empowerment messages, or just being plain humoruous. There are one or two slips though. If you listen to Abdullahi Mighty's
Sanya Zobe, especially the second vocal section (where the girl sings) the first line is direct porn; but it would take a very careful listen to suss it out. The film musicians, on the other hand, are out-and-out porn purveyors in some of their lyrics -- accounting for the counter-culture movement lead by Billy-O to produce lyrics that are clean and with a specific message.
One distinct fear, of course is the possible disappearance of traditional music. But we are working towards ensuring that musicans incorporate traditional instruments as well as their synthesizers together -- as done in Egypt, Indonesia and Turkey; or adopt a variation of the style as done in Mali (listen to Oumou Sangare, Neba Solo and Ali Farka Toure).
But that is not really what I want to talk about (Blimey, he has been going for ages, and he has not even started?!?! :roll: ). I want to draw attention to the fact of Hausa
Traditional rap.
Rap is not foreign to Hausa music repertoire. It has been there all along. It did not take off simply because Hausa Traditional Rap artistes do not follow the pattern of other Hausa musicians in being "maroka" -- they were genuine performance artists who subscribe to the inherent beauty and quality of their craft. Since they are not client-focused, unlike mainstream Hausa traditional musicians, they received little support, and eventually the genre among the traditional musicians died.
Let me illustrate with the foremost rap exponent,
Bagobiri Sullutu. In a recorded performance at the local university (Bayero, in Kano), sometimes in the 1980s he introduced his craft in the following way:
Bakandamiyar Bagobiri (Excerpt)
(doxology)
Ni ne Yahaya Ladan Bafarawa, Kauye
Mai Wa?azin addinin Musulunci
Shinkafi ta Diso, Kasar Sakkwato
?
Lakabi Bagobiri Sullutu dan uwan Galaba
Mai baki kamar gadar Gabaci
Wanda hanci nai ya karye, ido suka lotse
Mijin Amina bawan Allah, Amina baiwar Allah
Na san Allah, Ba a gwada min Allah, sai dai a fi ni karatu
Don kuwa Almalikku ya jarraba ni, Anyatul malau surutu!
(Amina) Akalluna!
(Bagobiri) Akalluna?
(Bagobiri) Akalluna mautu
To ?yan makaranta Kwaleji kun ji wannan kalma
Ita ce Bakandamiyar Bagobiri Sullutu
Wanda Amina ta ce Akallu indal mautu, da guda-guda lahira duk za mu
(Amina) Akalluna mautu
Da sunkuya mu yi dagawa gabas da yama dama da hauni
Kudu da Arewa duk mutuwa ce!
(Amina) Da guda-guda
Duk tana binmu, Amina ?yar kan mato
Komai za mu yi mu kama ibada
Mu san zuwa makaranta, tambayar Malamai,
Farilla da sunna da mustahabi, mu ji gyara mu ji barna
In mun jiya mu mu kiyaye
(Amina) Mautu indal Mautu!
(Bagobiri) Mautu indal mautu, kowazzaka duniyarga sai ya barta
Kyaun rayuwa tana tahe da mutuwa, rayuwar da bata mutuwa rayuwar banza ce!The delivery was rapid-fire rap in perfect rhythm -- although there was no musical accompaniment. Strikingly and innovatively, during his performances he was always accompanied by his wife, Amina, who provides a sort of kick-starter for him; she will mention a word or a phrase and he will elaborate on that. Unusual in that only one other Hausa traditional performing artiste incoproated the opposite sex as part of the performance. This was Uwaliya Mai Amada (Ahayye Yaro). One of her calabash musicians -- the only MALE in an all female orchestra -- was her HUSBAND!
Bagobiri consistently maintained his rap performances throughout northern Nigeria, but as I said the fact that he was not client-focused, but issue-based, tended to mean less patronage. One of his classics was the lyrics he performed for living in a village, titled, Kauye. Here is an excerpt:
Kauye Rap (Excerpt)
(Amina) Sullutu dan uwan galaba
Mai baki kamar gadar Gabaci
Hanci ya karye, ido sun lotse
Garin mu Bafarawa kauye,
Haihuwa at-tilas, ba zama na can ba!
(Amina) Kauye!
(Bagobiri) Keya!
(Amina) Kauye!
(Bagobiri) Yunwa!
(Amina) Kauye!
(Bagobiri) Radda!
(Amina) Kauye!
(Bagobiri) Rangwamen Addini!
(Amina) Kauye!
(Bagobiri) Ba mu da kudi a sha fura ba nono tsamiya aka dama!
(Amina) Kauye!
(Bagobiri) Ba kunu mai zaki
(Amina) Kauye!
(Bagobiri) Ba ruwa mai sanyi irin ruwanga na firinji
(Amina) Kauye!
(Bagobiri) Sannan babu lataro babu waya babu kokakola dan zuman zamani!Of course Bafarawa, the butt of his derision, has significantly improved now, considering that the current Govenor of Sakkwato is from Bafarawa!
I am going to upload a portion of Bagobiri Sullutu's performance to the server, and Salisu will send the links eventually. This is for everyone, but dedicate to
Dan Kauye who yearns for traditionalism!
Nor was Bagobiri the only Hausa traditional rap artiste. Making rounds around markets in various cities in northern Nigeria was a man who pioneered a unique category of Hausa performance art which I call MABARATA. They sing, rap-like, no instruments, and non-client focused. They are also issue-focused, but mainly operatic. The biggest exponent of this genre of Hausa traditional performance is
Muhammad Dahiru Daura, a blind ministrel. His most famous performance is IDI WANZAMI, for which here are excerpts from the composition:
Nine fa Muhammadu Dahiru Daura
Nine na Binta baban Audu
Da bara aka sanmu
Ga kuma Audu da Audu
?.
Maganar Idi Wanzami
Na tashar Gagawa
Askinsa ya fi fida ciwo!
Idi Wanzami,
Kaji yana yin askin
Kamar ana fidar dan taure!
Idi Wanzami,
Aska da tausayi, shi babu!
Wai wanzaman kirki,
Suna yawo da badira
Idi Wanzami,
Sai ya zubo su a sanho
Askansa guda hudu
Ko wacce aska ga sunanta:
Daya ?kura kya ci da gashi?,
Daya ?ladanki na jikin ki?,
Akwai wata ?wa aka samu??
Sannan ga ?kare dangi?
Amma ita ?kare dangi?,
Idan ta fito daga sanho
Rannan mutum dubu sa kare!
Wanzaman kirki,
Kowa yana mawashin aska
Idi Wanzami,
Da dutsin nika yake askawa!
Na tashar gagawa,
Ko kuwa ya sami bulo na sumunti!
Sannan wanzaman kirki
Suna yawo da kaho,
Idi Wanzami,
Bakin garwa aka fafe
Makyangama ita ce ?yar tsagu!
Idi Wanzami,
Ga shegen karfi a gurin sa
In ya yi kahonsa ya kare
Idan ya je zuka,
Sai ya fito da autar hanta!Definitely hilarious, especially if you hear him perform it live (and we have a copy of his particular performance at Dandali, seek, and ye shall find!). As I said, he does not use any instrument, but a chorus group -- made up of two males, who are similarly blind, who distort the chorus such that their vocals sound like a vocoder. Despite his brillance and skill with words, Muhammad Dahiru is still a begger -- and still in Kano. We have been trying to link up with the Office of the Special Adviser on Disabled in Kano to see if we could get them to accept a proposal to harness his skill (and those similarly gifted), but so far we have drawn blank. Sigh.
The political era -- what they call "First Republic" in Nigeria -- also threw up a few rap artistes in the traditional sector, although the only one who survived was
Abdu Gula, aka Hececi from Tsibiri, near Maradun in Sakkwato. His dialogue was more like a story, but in a rap prose form, rather than metrical verses.
Thus the close connection between verse, meter and narrative discourse of rap artistes has always been part of the repertoire of performances of Hausa traditional music genre. What Shaba and Billy-O are doing is taking it to the next level. Even in the US, the antecedent rap format owes alot to the poetic powers of Gil-Scott Heron (The Revolution Will Not Be Televised). Compare, for instance, the planes at which Heron's lyrics and those I quoted for Hausa musicians operate. Here is an excerpt from Heron:
The revolution will no be televised
You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary. Thus the biggest challenge for Hausa ethnomusicologists is to trace, record and document traditional Hausa rap music for comparision with its modern variant. I will post more on this when I visit my recordist tomorrow, insha Allah!
Abdalla
