KanoOnline.com Forum

hey,
Assalam
 who wants to form a rock band?
u know hausa rock band wow.
great idea
remixing shatta's song
with electric guitars and techno drums
we go
tannananannanana (guitar)
and then
shattaaaaaaaaaaaa
yeah u heard da man
he said shatta
shatta may ganga mun gode may ganda mun godeeee
did i give u a touch of the real thing?
hope so
anyone intrested?

Assalaam Alaikum,

Hmmm...Subhanallah.

Ma'3ssalaamah.

8never mind senior just kiddin

LoL @ Ihsan!!!!......

rock band????? oh boi... i prefer hausa hip hop... or fulani r'n'b... hausa soul... u know, betta things..

LORD HAVE MERCY ON OUR POOR SOULS :o :o :o :o :o

Rock band? Yes, of course. I had thought I was the only one with this crazy notion. I am glad to know of other kindered spirits. I was an amateur musician using an acoustic Ukelele Hawaiin guitar that I got as a birthday gift when I was 13 years in 1969. And NO, I am NOT from Kaduna State. I was born and bred in Daneji Quarters, KANO city. I am hardcore Kano, and more fulanicious than Fulanicious (!!).  However, the looks I got from my friends when trying to play the guitar were enough to put me off. Often I was even accused of being a Christian (!!!) just because I prefer music to playing football.

I am HEAVILY into Heavy Metal and experimental rock. My favorites are the rock dinosours of the 1960s and 1970s - my generation, as it were. In the forefront are Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Motorhead, Vander Graaf Generator, and later, Magnum, Scorpions, MSG Band, Groundhogs, Budgie, Fairfort Convention, The Incredible String Band, Allman Brothers and of course the greatest acid rockers of all, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Oh, okay, you can thrown in Jerry Garcia's Grateful Dead, and Lou Reed's Velvet Underground, if you insist on being a completist.

I then diversified muscially to Euro-rock, long before New Age acquired a label. In this regard, the early cosmic courier groups operating from Berlin were a real inspiration, particularly Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze (who was a drummer with Tangerine Dream before leaving after their first album, Journey Through a Burning Brain), Ashra Temple, Neu, Popul Vuh, Guru Guru, Amoon Duul and Magma, and from Japan, the Far East Family Band and Yellow Magic Orchestra.

So for a long time I have toyed with the idea of a fusion - along the lines of World Music structure of traditional Hausa musical arrangements and contemporary musical structures. It has been done in other cultures and it worked brilliantly. Just listen to Nusrat Ali Fateh Khan's collaborations with the Canadian Michael Brooks on NIGHTSONG and you see a fusion of East and West. Also listen to Malian groups like Ali Farka Toure, Oumou Sangare, Aichate Sidibe, Salif Keita, Adama Yolomba and be amazed by the way they use their language and TRADITIONAL instruments coupled with blazing rock-style guitars and create a perfect music. I will strongly recommend ALi Farka Toure's NIAFUNKE as an introduction to the interplay between a gurkel and blues guitar!

Some people responding to the suggestion of Hausa rock music seemed shocked - even a "subhanallah" was uttered. So what is wrong with it? Have you ever listed to HAUSA musicians playing ROCK music in HAUSA? No? Then listen to Saadou, from Niger, especially his killer-album BORI. How about KUKAN MARAYA by Buari of Ghana, or KUDAN GIDA by Maurice Riga from Ghana also?

Further, those of us growing up in the 1960s and 1970s Northern Nigeria recall vividly brilliant people like BALA MILLER, SONNY LIONHEART who all sang in Hausa but used rock instruments. Also the late Governor of Kano, Alhaji Audu BAko (Allah Ya Jikasana, Amin) pioneered a music band in the Kano State Government House with full complement of musicians, led by the great Pat Natson of Kaduna. They were all singing in Hausa, and it was bril!

Contempraneously, many of the "musicians" (they can't play ANY instrument, prefering to use the Casio music generator to generate various sounds) producing soundtracks for Hausa home videos have started to adapt Hausa traditional music to the Casio-style musical renditions. A BAMU DOMIN ALLAH is a brilliant track that follows the structure of Muhammad Dahiru Daura's BAYANIN WILLI. Daura, of course was the blind Hausa "maroki" who rendered the Hausa comic-opera, IDI WANZAMI NA TASHAR GAGAWA. The adapted track is part of the soundtrack for a movie called Tsaro Part 2.

Also there is an audio tape going around in Kano called IBRO DAN INDIA which brilliantly Hausanized the famous Oumou Sangare song, Ah N'diya (which in Kano is referred to as Aliya). Then of course IBRO AWILO, which is an adaptation of Awilo Longomba's songs in Hausa by Sadi of Kano.

I am currently liaising with the owner of the Sulpur Music studio in Kano to see how we can adapt Hausa music to modern instrumental tunes. After all, the traditional musicians, still as brilliant as ever, are no longer producing. We have to move on and create an avenue through which we can share our musical experiences with other peoples in the world.

So, "yea, baby, that sounds groovy. Like, far out, man!" Let Woodstock roll back! Let Jimi Hendrix (tunes) accompany Dan Maraya Jos lyrics. Let the FUN BEGIN!!!!!!!!!!!

Abdalla (an old rocker who still loves Motorhead)

More FuLaNiCiOuS than MOI????????????  Obviously, coz ur not black at all........atleast ur taste isnt....
:o

salam brotha(?) :)

I have followed the series on this Forum with keen attention for the last few days and i wish to commend the operators for a job well done

On a serious note, the fusion of hausa music is long over due, and the high time we come out of musical doldrum the better for our bodies and souls.

Abdallah,s expose is incontrovertible and commendable. Fulanicious and Ihsan please open your minds to progrssive developments, otherwise we will continue to lag behind. All these hiding behind religious garb to continue to depress ourselves needs to be seriously examined. Most of our hausa songs of repute can even be described as un-islamic. Listen to Dankwairo, Shatta etc. They only extol confrontation and arousing sentiments of yester-years battle fought by Bawa Jan Gwarzo, and all that non-sense.

Hausawa, you better stand up otherwise the world has left you behind.

Sai an jima.

SALAMU ALAIKUM....brotha......please let me know what is the connection between "us being left behind" and "music"

for once in ur life why can't u appreciate ur own culture and lifestyle.....why do yall always wanna copy other poeple especially the westerners??????????? I have been in the midst of them for 15 years of my life...and beleive me their ways aint always the best...this is ridiculus, yall should BE proud of ur own kind of music....  do u ever hear them saying they will mix ROCK MUSIC with AFRICAN MUSIC....

this is not really about religeon........its more about CULTURE PRIDE!!!!!!  Even though i never listen to hausa music(coz i just never grab the lyrics) and  dont know any fulfulde music  :-[but  that doesnt mean that we should ABOLISH what has been going on for centuries  in our traditions....or change it..... its so unacceptable..... r u trying to deny ur tradition.....I dont know bout u, but i am one PROUD fulani gurl...and wouldnt trade my traditions for anything else in the world!!!!!!!!!!

MAY ALLAH BE WITH US YALL
PEACE OUT

hmm....son of sokoto....come oh.... try and put aside religion and see whut situation u'll put ur self in.... wanna know? its beyond depression....

newayz... music is not prohibitted in Islam... as long as its with good taste... if u go around singin' bout sex...drugs...killin'... etc etc... then know ur wastin' ur time...
but when its about progress and positivity.. i'l all for it...

dont forget... Islam is here to guide us thru life... if u know whuts best for u... use it as a guidin' tool....

juss my kobo biyu...

Fulanicious, Wallahi, i fully appreciate your sentiments and point of view. And don't be sad, as i am extremely proud of my culture and heritage.

I am sure you know culture is not static but dynamic, as our culture today, cannot be said to be 100% what it was 100 - 200 years back. Simply the point being made is that, our music should POSITIVELY grow up and not lag behind. In this instance we are not talking about use of 'Batsa' and foul language. Far from it. We want to see instrumental developments using modern technology in order to enhance the quality and value of output etc.

For most of my adult life, i have lived in Lagos, and it pains me a lot to visit Northern Nigeria and see our women folk dancing to Sunny Ade, Lagbaja etc at wedding ceremonies. If over the years, our Kalangu musicians have gone a step further to improve what they have inhereted from their fathers and Grand fathers, at least they could pace with their audiences. But i am sorry to say, as it is now our local musicians have lost their audiences.

Of all the points you made Fulanicious, none appealed to me more than your deep devotion to your fulani heritage. But, please also note that, others do your share in that devotion. I am equally fulanicious gaba da baya, only that, hausa language has linguistically blurred most of our (may be you inclusive) fulani heritage since many of us can't speak the language. Therefore, note that, one can equally be a patriotic fulani and still disagree with you (just like i do) on the character and form of fulani or hausa music. Western life or culture like our own has many good sides to it and bad sides. Therefore, what i am advocating is that, we take the good aspect of the west and add to our good side while leaving out anything that is bad from all sides. How about that?

Thanks for reading.

*hiss*..... deep devotion for which culture????..... all ya'll are SELL-OUTS!!!!!!  :P  8)

and to make it even worse... u wanna start a rock band.... why why why why? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  whhhhhhhyyyyyy? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??

hip hop now....hip hop naaaaaaaaaaaa...... heeeeeeeeeep hop!  ;)

Salamualaikum
Dan Sokoto, u said "and it pains me a lot to visit Northern Nigeria and see our women folk dancing to Sunny Ade, Lagbaja etc at wedding ceremonies."  

well guess what? Its just like me coming to nija for holiday and see people bobbin their heads to Rap, RnB, rock etc...  

And  in my view its even better to see my people dancing to  Sunny Ade, Lagbaja (whoever they are :-[)  than seeing my people dancing to IRON MAIDEN, etc... So why should u even stress out hatin to see Northern women dancing to Sunny Ade while u are lsitening to Bon jovi, Kiss, Europe, etc...


so my point here exactly is, all people have different tastes,,,and u shouldnt xpect people  to like ur own taste...
just like I dispise Iron Maiden, u like them....
------------------------
n yes u are right  "culture is not static but dynamic, as our culture today, cannot be said to be 100% what it was 100 - 200 years back" But lets not forget, there r speacial parts of cultures that just never fade away...
these special parts will always be there in the culture, these parts aid in IDENTIFYING the culture...  yes, every culture adapts other cultures..but must maintain these speacial parts of its OWN cultures that has been passed down from generation to generations.......

for example...hausa rock music... yeah it will be mostly electric guitars, hard drums...hmmmm lutta things that will just show that we are NOT ORIGINAL....

even if ur so interested to bring up a new type of hausa music, u must come up with our own kind..gatta be creative...we all know that rock music doesnt belong to us, just make ur own that u can call Yours...Ours....Hausa...Northern Nigerian music

Oooh, I love a good scrap. Sorry, Fulanicious, I am BLACK. As Black as anything, and yes, more fulanicious than Fulanicious. It is tough, but you gonna have to live with it, girl. I don?t know what your image of a Black person is, but it sure is different from mine. Your image of a Bro seems to restrict such dude to a solid diet of Tupac Shakur. Ouch!

Neither am I a white guy in a black skin. Just one lucky dude who has had the benefits of superior education, upbringing, and a liberal atmosphere at home ? and that was in conservative Northern Nigeria, not Oakland California (where I did live for sometime!). Liking rock music does not mean necessarily liking white people ? after all, BLACK people originated rock music, although nothing says you have to like or dislike someone based on musical genres. Since you are a latter-day Angela Davis (you do know her, don?t you?) I am sure you must know this lyric from Sly Stone: ?don?t hate the Black, don?t hate the White, if you get bitten, just hate the bite, make sure your heart is beating right?. It was a post-civil rights anthem of tolerance and togetherness. It should be your credo. It is therefore surprising to see bigotry rearing its ugly head on a Hausa cultural forum!

You seemed worried about my musical tastes and preferences. Think I should be more Blacky? Well here we go. Where were you when Wattsstax was held in 1973? I was not in Los Angeles, but right here in Kano City. And when the movie of the event came-a-calling, I was in the line at Palace Cinema, Kano City to watch it in 1974. Which record made Kool and the Gang famous? Nah, it is not Ladies Night. It was Funky Stuff. Part of an album called Wild and Peaceful. I scrapped my pocket money together to buy a copy of the album right here at a record store in Galadima Road, Sabon Gari in 1973. It may not be Tower Records or Virgin Megastore, but hey, it delivered!

You want me to reel out the Black hall of musical fame that formed the staple diet of my education? Here we go: Sly and the Family Stone, The Temptations, George Clinton?s Funkadelic (and no, not Bill Clinton?s lost Black brother, either) Earth, Wind, and Fire; the Ohio Players; the Commodores; Arthur Conley, Wilson Pickett, the Bar-Kays, Brass Construction, Booker T and MGs, Jean Knight, Fontella Bass, Millie Jackson, uncle Bill Withers, Undisputed Truth, the Hues Corporation and a whole bunch of others, some you have probably never heard of.

Or are you more comfortable with me telling that I was right there when the following gansta rappers cut their musical teeth?: Geto Boys, N.W.A., Ice Cube, Ice-T, Too Short, 2 Live Crew, and Public Enemy? I myself prefer the old school of rap such as the original rapper DJ Kool Herc, and later Afrika Bambaataa, Breakout, Grandmaster Flash, Fat Boys, Whodini, Kool Moe Dee, and Melle Mel. But music is music, and a universal message of peace, tolerance and togetherness, and should not be delineated by skin color.

And in case you have forgotten, Run-D.M.C. fused rap and hard rock on their eponymous album; as did Hard Corps with their Def Before Dishonor. The Equals, a British pop band in the 1970s (and who produced Eddy Grant of Electric Avenue fame) were among the first black-and-white musicians on the planet. And where do you place Eminem? Should you hate him because he is White and sings with Black feelings?

The point of all this is to show you how bloody lucky I am ? lucky enough to appreciate such diverse and eclectic musical offerings from people whose talent I focus attention on, rather than the accident of their birth or their skin color. I am Black, African, Muslim, and Male. That does not mean I should hate Led Zeppelin simply because Jimmy Page and Robert Plant are white. If I don?t like the vibes, then I don?t like the vibes, no matter the color of the vibemaster.

Clearly you need a history lesson on development of the music industry in the West. The number of collaborations between western musicians and Africans is incredible. Paul McCartney of the Beatles, for instance, recorded one of his albums in Lagos in the 1970s using Lagos-based studio session musicians. Ginger Baker, a well-known drummer, was an old associate of Fela Anilukapo Kuti. Peter Gabriel, former singer of Genesis, helped to establish WOMAD a festival that celebrates fusion of music across continents and cultures. Ry Cooder, an American blues guitarist, collaborated with Ali Farka Toure of Mali to produce TALKING TIMBUCTU, a brilliant fusion of eclectic musical convergence. So yes, there are MANY westerners talking about mixing African Music with rock music. Just because you are NOT AWARE of them does not mean they don?t exist. As I said, you probably need to educate yourself on issues before going into them. Why don?t you revisit Lauryn Hill?s MISEDUCATION OF LAURY HILL? There might be some lessons there for you. Despite your fire and thunder, it is surprising you have not asked mommy or daddy to bring you tons of Hausa Music. And being Fulanicious, I am sure you must have all the albums of Ina Baba Couly, a Fulani woman folk musician, don?t you?

This thread started by Ali Hamza was exploring ways of fusing Hausa music with rock. I still think it is ?groovy idea?, and would go for it.

And please, let us not get unnecessarily cultural. A lot of musical influences in Hausa are non-Hausa. Example, Mamman Shata was famous for his lyrics and musical instrument of KALANGU. Well, Kalangu (African drums) is not a Hausa instrument; it was borrowed, complete with the name, from the Yoruba. That does not mean Shata should not use it to create Hausa masterpieces such as Bakandamiya. So let?s cut out the purist revulsion.

Let us also cut out the moralizing. There is nothing religious about Hausa music. Indeed a lot of it was debauchery. Listen to Barmani Choge?s WAKAR XXXX (an anatomical portion of the human body), WAKAR GWARNE; also Uwaliya Mai Amada?s MALLAM YE MALLAM KARYA (Wannan Ba Malami bane). How about Shata?s ASHA RUWA BA LAIFI BA NE, or Hassan Wayam?s YAR GORA?

If Ali Farka Toure, from Mali can use a blues guitar and combine it with local Malian instruments such as the gora, gurkel and others and produce a superb album like NIAFUNKE, I see nothing wrong with Hausa adopting that approach. Saadou of Niger Republic has done this brilliantly with his best-selling album, BORI.

So come on, let us have  more debates and inputs about this. But cut out the bigotry, please. This is a globalized world. And despite Gil-Scott Heron?s epoch-making rap poetry,  the revolution HAS been televised on the global medium of the Internet.

Abdalla (an ageing rocker who still loves Motorhead, and Twisted Sister)

bla bla bla,
yeah right
okay everyone made his/her point
lets get down to business
who's intrested in makin a rock band?
huh??