I Went on a Food Strike When My Father Stopped Me From Learning Singing —Maryam Sangandale

A prominent singer who has been singing in the Hausa film industry for many years, Kannywood, namely, , better known as Maryam Sangandale, tells readers about the struggles she went through before starting singing and the challenges she faced after starting singing, as well as many other issues that affected her life.

First, readers will want to hear your full name along with the name by which you are best known.

My name is Maryam Abdulkarim Sulaiman, also known as Maryam A. Baba or Maryam Sangandale.

Can you tell the readers a little bit about your background?

I, Maryam, was born in , in Zango, because my father was a merchant who traveled to foreign countries to trade goods. There he met my mother and they got married, and God blessed them with my brother and me.

And my father is from , . After he left Ghana and returned to , my sister Zainab was born, and from there he came to .

Don’t forget I told you that he is a merchant, and he returned to his hometown, Kano, Dabo, the center of commerce. When we were in Kano, we were educated and enrolled in Rabi’u Speaking Islamic School, in Sani Mainagge Neighborhood in Tal’udu.

In short, I did my primary, secondary, and college in Kano, and I even worked for ‘Temporary’, Freedom Radio, and Dala FM.

What attracted you to pursue music?

What caught my attention was watching Hausa dramas, and I saw singing in them, and I felt like I was also contributing to the industry.

How old would you say you were when you started singing?

I am 26 years old. I am in the Kannywood industry, I have been involved in various fields of music and singing.

Was it a struggle to start?

It was really a struggle, because when I first started singing, I couldn’t follow the music. When I was going to sing, I had a hard time before I was even picked up and told to come sing, and when I got up from school, I would go to sing.

Speaking of your parents, when you first told them you wanted to start singing, did you face any challenges from them?

When they heard I started singing, they said, “What does it have to do with me when I’m studying?” My father said I should stop singing and finish what he assigned me to do and then I came up with what I wanted to do.

Well, the challenge I got from my father was that if I didn’t stop going to the singing school, I wouldn’t go out anymore, I stayed at home since he didn’t say I should, studying was his goal for me.

I didn’t eat for 3 days because he forbade me from leaving the house so I wouldn’t go to the singing school. Then later my mother told him that I haven’t eaten since he forbade me from going out, that’s what he did and she told me and he said, “Well, he sent me to school, not to the singing school, so I came and went to school but I didn’t go to the singing school and I said, “Well, that’s when I started eating, you know the challenge I faced from our home to my parents.

May God hear my father’s voice and forgive him his sins and make Paradise Firdaus his destination.”

How did you start singing the song?

I started crying because the director of the film was a fighter. The reason for his fight was that I couldn’t keep up with the music and the song, because it was my first time singing and I couldn’t combine the music and the song.

I didn’t do it right. What made me cry and say I wouldn’t sing the song?

Then the people who took me to the stage, namely , and , kept apologizing to me and trying to convince me.

They told me to sit on the sidelines. When I calm down, I will come and sing again. They said yes, and that was it. But when he was taken out of the stage, I sang the song and it was beautiful and enjoyable.

With which singer or singer did you start singing, and did you start by accepting the written song that you wrote?

With and I started writing a song, and the song they wrote and we sang with them, the name of the song is Jinjinjina and the bazaar we men of the town play.

It is said that the name of the movie is ‘’. So you heard how it was.

When you started writing your own song, did you get help from anyone or anything, or did you write and sing it yourself?

Yes, well! there is a song that I wrote like our secondary school songs and I sang it without anyone’s help except the one who composed the song for me until I made it, and it was delicious.

How many songs have you sung?

Cabdijan, I don’t know how many of them, goddamn, because there are so many, goddamn, 26 years old, hmmmm.

Can you tell the readers the names of a few of the songs that you sang or wrote?

The ones I sang are Sangandale, Leshi Gami Da Shadda, Sanafahna, Masar Bauchi, Sakataye, Taho Taho Dan Yaro kyakykawa in Maka Tawai, Izzina Nayi Nuni da Kai Sahibina, Rabo Rabo, Samari, Mace Tagari, Tsuntsunbisa Tsurutsuhu, Munshigo da Kafar Dama Industry, Langa Langa da Langaye.

You and the others are too many to count, hmmm, goddamn.

There is a singer whose voice is similar to yours, and in the past, people thought that her songs were yours, but now that she has appeared, it is recognized that they are hers, what can you say about that?

She is a gift to everyone, and how God has given her a voice.

By God, people say that she is like me when she sings, but I don’t feel that way and I am sure she doesn’t feel that way either, because each of us has our own way of singing, and the way we use our tongues is not the same, by God, hers is even more beautiful than mine, not even close, because there is no difference, she can sing better than me, honestly, , God’s gift, her voice is very beautiful, by God, not like mine.

May God increase your intelligence and talent, my sister [my sister].