Ayaka Ozubulu – United Friends Club

The word united is the one I keep returning to. Igbo communities are known for their unions, from age grades to town development meetings where members pay dues, argue over minutes and still go home as one family. A friendship that calls itself united is borrowing from that tradition. It suggests people who disagree openly, settle it among themselves and show up together at the next burial or wedding.

There is also a little humour in putting the word club next to it. It makes the bond sound official, as though there are membership rules, a chairman nobody voted for and a treasurer everybody suspects. I will not guess how the song handles the idea, and I will leave the details of the sound to the listener. What stands out is that the title sits beside other Friends Club titles from the same artist, so the theme clearly runs through the project, and the record appears on the album Na One Day.

It suits the evening after a long week, when the old gang finally gathers, the chairs are pulled into a circle and the first joke is already at someone’s expense.