RUNDA – Adúmáradán

The word appears to be Yoruba, and I would not stake a firm claim on every shade of the meaning, so I would sooner leave the finer points to speakers of the language. In Yoruba, names are often small prayers or statements, and the tone marks matter because a different tone can change a word entirely. Writing the title with its accents intact shows care for the language.

That detail stands out on an album called Okafor’s Law, which carries an Igbo surname. A Yoruba title beside it gives the project a cross-cultural feel, the way a Lagos party has Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa voices in the same room. I will not guess how the record is built, and I will leave the details of the sound to the listener.

It suits a family gathering where someone older explains what a name means, and the youngest finally understands why it was chosen.

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