Umxoshi – Icala Lokumthanda

The phrase is Zulu, and it speaks of the case or charge of loving someone. The word icala carries the sense of a legal matter, something to be argued and judged. Putting it next to love is clever, because that is how it feels sometimes. You are on trial for caring too much, or for loving the wrong person, and everyone around you has an opinion.

Nigerians will know this feeling well. Think of the friend whose family disapproves of the partner, or the neighbour everyone discusses because of who she dates. Love in our communities is rarely private. People weigh in, give advice and sometimes pass judgement without being asked. The title captures that pressure in two words.

The record appears on Trust Me, and it makes sense there. An album about trust naturally touches the cost of loving someone when others doubt it. Icala Lokumthanda reads like the courtroom scene of the project, where feelings are defended and nobody is sure how the ruling will go.

It suits the hour after an argument with family about the person you love, when you sit alone and ask yourself whether you were right to stand your ground.

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