Salawa Abeni is a popular Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

n singer. An Ijebu Yoruba

Yoruba people

The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...

 from Epe

Epe, Nigeria

Epe is a town and Local Government Area in Lagos State, Nigeria located on the north side of the Lekki Lagoon. At the 2006 Census the population of Epe was 181,409.-References:...

, in Lagos State

Lagos State

Lagos State is an administrative division of Nigeria, located in the southwestern part of the country. The smallest in area of Nigeria's states, Lagos State is the most populous state in Nigeria and arguably the most economically important state of the country and west Africa, containing Lagos, the...

, she began her professional career in waka music

Waka music

Waka music is a popular Islamic-oriented Yoruba musical genre. It was made popular by Alhaja Batile Alake from Ijebu, who took the genre into the mainstream Nigerian music by playing it at concerts and parties; also, she was the first waka singer to record an album. Later, younger singers like...

 when she released her debut album, Late General Murtala Ramat Mohammed, in 1976, on Leader Records. It became the first recording by a female artist to sell over a million copies in Nigeria.

Abeni continued recording for Leader until 1986, when she ended a relationship with the record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

's owner, Lateef Adepoju. She married Kollington Ayinla and joined his record label instead, staying with him until 1994.

She was crowned "Queen of Waka Music" by the Alaafin of Oyo

Oyo, Nigeria

Oyo is a city in Oyo State, Nigeria, founded as the capital of the Oyo Kingdom in the 1830s and known to its people as 'New Oyo' to distinguish it from the former capital to the north, 'Old Oyo' ) which had been deserted as a result of rumors of war. Its inhabitants are mostly of the Yoruba people...

, Oba

OBA

Oba or OBA may refer to:* Oba , an African ruler or king* Oba , in Yoruba mythology* Oba, an island in the North Maluku province of Indonesia* Oba-Igbomina, a town in Nigeria...

 Lamidi Adeyemi in 1992. Waka is an Islamic-influenced, traditional Yoruba music

Yoruba music

The music of the Yoruba people of Nigeria is best known for an extremely advanced drumming tradition, especially using the dundun hourglass tension drums. Yoruba folk music became perhaps the most prominent kind of West African music in Afro-Latin and Caribbean musical styles...

 style, popularized by Batile Alake

Batile Alake

Batile or Batili Alake is a prominent Nigerian waka singer. Born in Ijebu - Igbo, Ogun State, she popularized the Islamic-inspired, Yoruba genre by playing at concerts and parties throughout Yorubaland, and was the first waka singer to wax an album. She was active during the 1950s and...

; it is a much older genre than juju

Jùjú music

Jùjú is a style of Nigerian popular music, derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. The name comes from a Yoruba word "juju" or "jiju" meaning "throwing" or "something being thrown." Juju music did not derive its name from juju, which "is a form of magic and the use of magic objects or...

 and fuji

Fuji music

Fuji is a popular Nigerian musical genre. It arose from the improvisation Ajisari/were music tradition, which is a kind of music performed to wake muslims before dawn during the Ramadan fasting season...

.