Lasun Alagbe
Veteran waka musician, Queen Salawa Abeni, has said that many young afrobeats acts are stylishly feeding on old waka songs.
According to her, they are fond of taking the old songs and modernising them.
Interestingly, fuji musicians such as Kollington Ayinla and Wasiu Ayinde can make the same claim, based on how some of the hip hop and afrobeats singers have sneaked into their repertories one time or the other.
Only recently, Portable had to visit Ayinla, after obviously admitting that the older artiste’s song, ‘Kolawole gberunmu de/Saasuu…’ is the source of his (Portable’s) viral song, ‘Zazuh ze’
Yet, close observers of the music industry will also recall how the likes of Salawa Abeni, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, Kollington Ayinla and Wasiu Ayinde also made use of verses from works of older-generation musicians such as Yusuf Olatunji and Haruna Ishola.
Meanwhile, Salawa is not really castigating the afro-beaters.
Rather, she advances the point to show that waka cannot die.
In an interview in ‘Sunday Punch’, the ‘Mo ti goke’ singer says, “If you listen to afrobeats well, you will realise that many of them are ‘taking’ our old songs, and modernising them. I believe that waka music will always be relevant.”
She also reflects on her era and what obtains now: “You know my son, Big Shef, is also an artiste. These young artistes are enjoying because their songs are typically not more than five minutes in length. The DJ would even play it for them and they sing along. In our time, we had to rub minds (with band members) and compose songs. Or, we could hire a composer. There were no DJs to play our music while we’re on stage. It was after composing songs that we would teach the backup singers, drummers and other members of the band. However, I modernised my music in 1992, by introducing piano, guitar and other instruments.”
