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 during an appearance on Channels Television’s Rubbin’ Minds, Abeni recalled several troubling experiences she said occurred during the early stages of her career, including losing her voice unexpectedly and vomiting blood.
She said her passion for music began at the age of nine when she started performing alongside older musicians who invited her to join them.
Abeni recalled that she would sometimes lose her voice when it was her turn to perform, despite having watched other musicians perform successfully.
“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,” she said.
The singer attributed some of the challenges to jealousy from older musicians who reportedly became uncomfortable with the attention she received as a young performer.
She explained that audiences sometimes left older performers to watch her when she arrived at events, which she believed contributed to the hostility she experienced.
“That is jealousy. It’s a strong thing to say people are diabolical. Well, that is it. That is exactly it,” she said.
Abeni also recounted an incident in which she claimed her band’s sound equipment malfunctioned when it was her turn to perform, leaving her unable to properly project her voice.
“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,” she said.
She further narrated another incident in which she claimed rain suddenly began falling around the spot where she was performing, disrupting the audience that had gathered to watch 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.
Despite the challenges she described, Abeni went on to build a long and successful career and became one of Nigeria’s most prominent waka musicians.
Her notable releases include Iba Omode Iba Agba, Shooting Stars, We Are The Children, Maradonna, Cheer Up and Beware.
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