Queen Salawa Abeni

b. Epe, Nigeria. A child prodigy of Nigeria's Yoruba people, Abeni has, since the late 70s, been the acknowledged modernizer and leader of the women's vocal and percussion style known as waka, a close relative of the male-dominated juju, apala and fuji musics. Her professional career began at the age of 10, when she walked into the Lagos offices of the local Leader recording label and asked to be allowed to play a demo tape. Treating the young girl's request as something of a joke, the owner promised to listen to the tape later, put it away in his desk and promptly forgot abou...