One of the most respected
Nigerian musicians from the
north of the country, Adamu
Wayya, best known as
Danmaraya Jos, is dead, his
friend and close associate, Ladan
Salihu, has announced.
He was 69.
“Inaa Lillaahi Wa Innaa ilaiHir
raaji’un. One of Nigeria’s
foremost Hausa musicians, poet,
philosopher and philanthropist,
Dr Adamu Danmaraya Jos has
answered Allah’s call about an
hour ago,” Mr. Salihu, the
Director General of the Federal
Radio Corporation of Nigeria
(FRCN), announced at about 4P.M
Saturday on his Facebook page.
Mr. Salihu continued, “He died in
Jos after a protracted illness.
When I visited him two weeks
ago, he spoke passionately about
the Unity of the North and of one
Nigeria. I remember when he
insisted that my late father gave
out the his (Danmaraya’s)
adopted daughter’s hand in
marriage some 15 years ago.
“We shared many moments. He
was to me a brother and a friend.
I am devastated. But I am proud
he lived a very useful life,
transforming society through
music and silently through
Islamic endeavours. May Allah
grant him Aljannatul Firdaws.
Amin. For the record he was a
recipient of the National Honours
of MON, OON and United Nations
Peace Medal.”
DanMaraya is known for
performing at key events across
the country. His last known
public performance was at the
Peoples Democratic Party’s fund raising
dinner in Abuja before the 2015 general
election.
He performed brilliantly that Dec 20, 2014,
and shook hands with then President
Goodluck Jonathan and other dignitaries at
the event after his performance.
His death has thrown a lot of his fans into
deep mourning, with some taking to Facebook
to mourn his departure.
Liz Asabe Ikilama, a lawyer, wrote, “A couple
of days ago, I was telling Dami my son about
him and his songs. I said to him ‘Dan Adam
mai wuyan gane hali, ‘in anyi rana yace anyi,
in anyi dare yace anyi dare’! I said when you
are given hot potatoes and carrots,you’d say
why is it too hot. If you are given the cold
one, you’d complain too.
“I told him how philosophical Dan Marayan
Jos Songs were! He asked if I have met him,
do I know his house? I said when we were
kids, he was staying around/off Bauchi road?
I wasn’t too sure. But I told him that I met
him when I was in Law school Lagos at 1004
housing estate in Uncle Ladan Salihu’s
house.”
“A colossal loss to the whole of art,
entertainment, and humanity in general. He
was a musician with a unique character and
talent,” another fan, Mukhtar Abubakar
Usman, wrote. “His was unparalleled.”
Below is Wikipedia entry on the late
musician.
Dan Maraya Jos (born Adamu Wayya in 1946 –
20 June 2015) is a Nigerian Hausa Griot best
known for playing the kontigi. Dan Maraya
Jos, whose name means “The Little Orphan of
Jos”, was born in 1946 and Died Saturday, 20
June 2015 in B’ukur, near Jos in Plateau State,
Nigeria. His Islamic name is Adamu, but his
father died shortly after his birth and his
mother died while he was still an infant,
hence the name by which everyone knows
him. Dan Maraya’s father was a court
musician for the Emir of Bukur, who took Dan
Maraya under his care when his parents died.
Dan Maraya showed an early interest in music
and came under the influence of local
professional musicians. During a trip to
Maiduguri while he was still a pre-teen, he
was impressed by musicians there and made
a kuntigi, with which he has accompanied
himself ever since.
The kuntigi is a small, single-stringed lute.
The body is usually a large, oval-shaped
sardine can covered with goatskin. Dan
Maraya and other kuntigi players are solo
performers who accompany themselves with a
rapid ostinato on the kuntigi. During
instrumental interludes they repeat a fixed
pattern for the song they are playing, but
while singing, they will often change the
notes of the pattern to parallel the melody
they are singing.
Like most professional musicians, the
mainstay of Dan Maraya’s repertoire is praise
singing, but Dan Maraya singles out his
personal heros rather than the rich and
famous. His first, and perhaps still his most
famous song is “Wak’ar Karen Mota” [“Song of
the Driver’s Mate”] in praise of the young
men who get passengers in and out of
minivan buses and do the dirty work of
changing tires, pushing broken down vans,
and the like. During the Nigerian Civil War,
he composed numerous songs in praise of
soldiers of the federal army and incorporated
vivid accounts of scenes from the war in his
songs.
Many of his songs incorporate social
commentary. These include the songs on
marriage in the study here, which probably
date from the early 1970’s. One might argue
that they are really one large song, and in
performance, Dan Maraya incoporates lines
from each of them. However, the recordings
that serve as the basis for this study have
three distinct musical settings, and the songs
themselves have three different themes.
“Jawabin Aure” [“Discourse on Marriage”] lists
the problems attendant in divorce and
admonishes married couples to try to patch
up their differences. “Auren Dole” [“Forced
Marriage”] decries the practice of families
arranging marriages for their daughters
rather than letting them decide on their own
mates. “Gulma-Wuya” [“The Busybody”]
describes a neighborhood gossip who works
in collusion with a boka (a practitioner in
casting spells, removing evil spirits, etc.) to
disrupt marriages by sowing dissension
between women and their husbands. The
latter song is amusing in that Dan Maraya
performs it as a drama, imitating the voices of
the different characters as they speak, a
technique that he has used in other songs as
well.

www.premiumtimesng.com/arts-entertainment/185408-breaking-iconic-nigerian-musician-danmaraya-jos-is-dead.html

. . . . . .RIP and respect to a true legend. . . . . .

Cc: airmark, lalasticlala, ishilove

His name is quite popular and familiar can't say I ever heard a song I can attribute to him though

His name seems popular than his songs. It seems his name comes to mind whenever hausa musicians are called. He must have been good at what he does.

May your soul find rest and peace, amen.