Hajiya Barmani Choge (female Hausa griot) sound files and videos)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases five examples of music from Nigerian (Hausa) singer Hajiya Saadatu Barmani Choge and her calabash ensemble.

Information about Hajiya Barmani Choge is included in the summary statement for Example #4 in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment and aesthetic purposes.

Information about these songs (in English) would be appreciated. Thanks!

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Hajiya Saadatu Barmani Choge and her group for their musical legacy. Thanks also to the publishers of these examples on YouTube and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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FEATURED EXAMPLES
These examples are presented in chronological order based on their publishing date on YouTube with the oldest example given first.

Example #1: Barmani Choge



kamal magaji doka, Uploaded on Jul 6, 2009

Hausa Song!Barmani Choge One of the best Hausa Female singer!Enjoy it
-snip-
Selected comments from this sound file's discussion thread:

Beri kay, 2010
"i was raise in ghana when iwas teenager i use to hear this song, from hausa ppl"

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ABBA MANAJA, 2013
"sama ruwa kasa ruwa... i got it"

Google Translate for "sama ruwa kasa ruwa" from Hausa to English = water above ground water

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Rxample #2: Barmani Choge Duwayway.



kamal magaji doka, Uploaded on May 29, 2010
-snip-
Selected comments from this sound file's discussion thread:

Mohammed Alhassan, 2012
"very lovely and humourous song by a wonderful entaintaner . Barmani was great singer. we have seen nothing like her again."

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Beauty Collection, 2012
"She sang this song long time ago Title was Ahayiye Kasa ruwa Sama ruwa very nice."
-snip-
Google Translate for "Ahayiye Kasa ruwa Sama ruwa" from Hausa to English = National Ahayiye rain water

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Ishaku Adamu, 2013
"A legend"

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saCD Garba, February 2015
"Traditional Hausa Song Oh Sweet Home!!!! Haba Kai!!!!!"

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Example #3: Hajiya Saadatu Barmani Choge Live, 2008



Foundation for Hausa Performing Arts, Published on Apr 10, 2013

This is mirrored from the BarmaniChoge channel, which will be dedicated solely to Barmani Choge's music and performances, unlike this channel which has a diversity of performances.

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Example #4: Mai Abin Dadi [Rare, VHS Rip - Nairori version]



Barmani Choge Channel, Published on Apr 23, 2013

This is the AUDIO recording ONLY of the musics of Hajiya Sa'adatu Barmani Choge (1945-2013). She was a griot from the city of Funtua, in Katsina State of northern Nigeria. All her performances were in the Hausa language of northern Nigeria. Her band plays with calabashes of various sizes, but all faced down on the floor; with one faced down in a large bowl of water giving 'bass' sound, while the others give out a dry cracking sound. The players use the edge of their palms as percussion while at the same time clacking on the calabash. There are two videos in this channel showing them doing this.

I have uploaded about 27 of her songs (plus additional two 'reloads') as video files to a dedicated channel I created for her music on YouTube. This is one of them. Please note this NOT a moving image -- it is static picture of Barmani against the background of a particular song. When you download this, you are only downloading essentially an audio file with a static image in a video form. It is easier to do this than to upload the audio files into servers such as Rapidshare which may be too fiddly for many people.

If you wish to see her actual video performance, look around this channel where I have also uploaded her last recorded stage performance which I recorded in January 2008 at a concert at the British Council offices in Kano, northern Nigeria. I have also included a TV studio video performance of one of her songs (Mai Abin Dadi) on this channel, as well as FOHAPA channel.

The songs are of varying recorded quality. I obtained them mainly from Kano cassette shops and ripped them into MP3s with enhancements -- giving an uneven sonic structure. Enjoy them for what they are -- because this is all there is to it, warts and all. Don't ask for more, because this is my entire catalogue of her music. I don't have anymore -- if you do, let me have them and I can upload them here. Don't ask for 'better' recording because this is the best I can do. Although extremely popular at live gigs during women's ceremonies and college students' social functions (though not club circuits as such entertainment structure does not exist in Muslim northern Nigeria) Barmani was recorded once by EMI (Nigeria) Ltd (now Ivory Music) who released a tape of her songs titled 'Hajiya Barmani Choge & Her Group'. The tape has a catalog number NEMI (LP) 0483. No date was printed on the cover, and I assume the tape was transferred from a vinyl album master probably in April 1983 (the picture of Barman on the cover of the tape is decidedly that of a younger person). Its track listing is as follows: (Side A) Mai Soso Ke Wanka, Wakar Choge, Zage Zogala, (Side B) Wakar Duwaiwai, Wakar Alhazawa, Wakar Sakarai. A look at EMI (Nigeria) Ltd listing on Discogs does not show Barmani Choge as one of the artists for the label.

Polygram Records (Nigeria) (now Premier Music) also recorded one cassette of Barmani's songs in 1987 when the company released a tape titled 'Mai Soso Ke Wanka' with a catalogue number POLP 162. It has six tracks -- (Side A) Mai Soso Ke Wanka, Gwarne Ikon Allah, Wakar Da'a, (Side B) Maras Sana'a, Sama Ruwa Kasa Ruwa, Alhazawa (which she refers to as Lallailallai Mu Mu Na Zuwa).

The fact that the two major record companies in Nigeria recorded Barmani's 10 performances, within just three years of each other, reveals the dearth of her catalogue. (I have generously included some of these cassette recordings in this channel). However, her most memorable performances were captured by freelance ethnomusicologists, such as Musa Nasale in Kano, who recorded her songs on many occasions on tapes and released them publicly. Most of the audio recordings on this channel are from these 'street' recordings. ..

These 'sleeve notes' accompany all the song uploads, although with additional notes as peculiar to a particular song, if necessary.

Apologies for the long notes, but if you have gotten this far, then my 'hula' off to you, for you must be either a) a dedicated Barmani fan, or b) a genuine ethnomusicologist! Enjoy!!

Abdalla Uba Adamu, Kano, northern Nigeria
auadamu at yahoo dot com
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Regarding "Mai Abin Dadi". Does "Dadi" means "Daddy"?

UPDATE: January 24, 2019:
Thanks to A.S. for adding this comment in the discussion thread for this post.
"Dadi means good. Abincin yayi dadi= the food tastes good. Sama ruwa kasa ruwa there is water on top and on the ground."

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Example #5: Allah Ka Ba Mu Nairori



Barmani Choge Channel, Published on Apr 23, 2013
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Google Translate for "Allah Ka Ba Mu Nairori" = God grant us naira". In standard English that may be "God bless Nigeria".

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