Two voices, perfectly locked together, singing in Yoruba and English over heavy funk guitar and drums. That was the sound of the Lijadu Sisters, identical twins who made some of the boldest records in 1970s Nigeria. For years their albums were rare finds in Lagos markets and collectors’ crates. A reissue campaign decades later finally put their music back in front of listeners, and many were surprised it had ever been forgotten.
Twins from Jos and Biddy Wright
Taiwo and Kehinde Lijadu were born in 1948 in Jos, in central Nigeria. In Yoruba tradition, Taiwo is the name given to the first-born twin and Kehinde to the second, and the sisters carried those names into their professional careers. They grew up in a family with musical connections and began singing together young. Much of their best-known work was produced by Biddy Wright, a musician and producer who shaped their sound in the studio. The records mixed funk, rock, reggae and Yoruba melodies, with arrangements that left room for the twins’ voices to lead.
Danger, Horizon Unlimited and the industry
Their 1976 album Danger and later records such as Horizon Unlimited are the ones most often named by fans. The songs ranged from love and independence to comments on Nigerian society and politics, delivered with a directness unusual for the time.
The Nigerian music business of the 1970s was dominated by men, from bandleaders to label owners. The Lijadu Sisters wrote and sang about women’s independence and dignity, and they insisted on being treated as artists rather than novelty acts.
Leaving Nigeria and the reissues
In the 1980s the sisters moved to the United States. They continued to perform from time to time, but their recording career largely stopped and their Nigerian records slipped out of print. In 2014 the American label Knitting Factory Records reissued several of their albums. Reviewers praised the records, and a new generation of listeners discovered the twins through streaming and vinyl.
Kehinde Lijadu died in 2019. The reissues meant she lived to see their music celebrated again, far from the Lagos studios where it was made. The Lijadu Sisters sang in two voices that sounded like one. The records they left are proof that some of Nigeria’s toughest funk came from two women in Lagos who refused to sing quietly.
