‘This is incredible’: a new generation of music lovers discovers the 70s sounds of the Lijadu Sisters

The twins shook up the music scene in Nigeria, becoming pop stars against the odds in a male-dominated industry. Now their five albums are being reissued

The sun is hot and traffic flows slowly as music enthusiasts make their way to Lagos’s Jazzhole, a shop that has morphed into a cultural hub over decades. The crowd, many of them young, are there for a documentary screening celebrating the Lijadu Sisters, stars of the Nigerian music scene in the 1970s and 80s, whose music is making a comeback.

Konkombe: The Nigerian Pop Music Scene (1979) traces the history of music in Nigeria from the days of wandering minstrels to the era of recording artists such as Fela Kuti, Sonny Okosun, King Sunny Ade, IK Dairo and the Lijadu Sisters, a band formed and led by identical twin sisters Taiwo and Kehinde Lijadu, who burst on to the scene in 1969.