The Lijadu Sisters, Nigeria’s Twin Musical Pioneers, Are Celebrated Anew

High above Harlem in early August, Yeye Taiwo Lijadu sat surrounded by her collection of sacred objects. Shelves displaying statues and icons of some of the 401 deities associated with the Yoruba traditional religion Ifá — in which she’s an ordained priestess — stretched nearly to her apartment’s ceiling. Lijadu (pronounced Lee-JAH-doo), 75, called this room “a museum of the ancestors.”

Less prominent were artifacts from her past as one of Nigeria’s biggest 1970s pop stars, when she was half of the vocal duo the Lijadu Sisters, with her identical twin, Kehinde. Beginning in 1963, when they were schoolgirls in a talent competition, the pair became fixtures on Nigerian television. They began releasing records in 1968, and by the mid-1970s they were larger than life; the cover illustration of their 1976 album “Danger” depicted them as superheroes, clad in matching red outfits with knee-high boots.

In Nigeria’s male-dominated music scene, the Lijadu Sisters were among the first — and fiercest — popular female artists, groundbreaking not only for their music (a mélange that included folky apala, funky Afrobeat and slinky disco) but also their feminism. In Jeremy Marre’s 1979 documentary “Konkombe: The Nigerian Pop Music Scene” (which will screen at BAM next month), the sisters rehearse and record while taking turns feeding Taiwo’s infant daughter, trying to make their voices heard amid a studio full of male musicians and technicians. “Women suffered at the hands of men in Nigeria,” Lijadu recalled, alluding to an atmosphere of disrespect and sexual harassment.

But yesterday’s struggles have yielded to today’s admiration, as the pair have finally been accorded the acclaim their trailblazing influence deserves. After being out of circulation for years, all five of the Lijadu Sisters’ 1970s albums will be remastered and reissued by the Numero Group, beginning with the release next week of perhaps their most fully realized record, “Horizon Unlimited” (1979). But what should be a moment for triumph is filled with grief: Kehinde died in 2019 of breast cancer. “She was my life,” Lijadu said, “she was my everything.”

The Lijadu Sisters’ music was striking for its sisterly connection. Singing primarily in English or Yoruba, the pair showcased uncannily synchronized harmonies, conjuring a choir of two. Their songs have been sampled — without proper clearance — by artists including Nas and Ayra Starr and cited as inspirations by a new generation of female musicians like Tems and Hayley Williams.