Some songs never leave you. You might forget the words, but their rhythm lingers somewhere deep. Nigerian singer-songwriter Dinachi brings that feeling to life with The Wúrà Project, a five-track, fourteen-minute collection that reimagines childhood songs from across Nigeria.
With only her guitar and voice, Dinachi revives songs once sung on red earth and under moonlight: “Akwukwo Na Ato (Bata Mi A Dun Kokoka), Omode Meta Sere (Ojo n Ro), Onye Mere, Do Ki Salama, and Iya Ni Wura”.Each piece stretches beyond language, pulling threads from Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa, as well as Igala, Bini, and Urhobo, and memories beyond, tying them into a single moment of stillness.
“Our childhood songs matter,” she says. “They carry our comfort, our belonging, our warmth.”
Born in Lagos and now based in London, Dinachi grew up surrounded by music, rhymes, and folklore from her Igbo and Yoruba roots. Now a mother, she’s seen how easily those songs slip away, even from her parents’ memory. Wúrà, meaning “gold” in Yoruba, is her way of preserving the golden moments.
The project extends beyond sound. Together with her sister, award-winning author Dr. Chibundu Onuzo, Dinachi is launching WÚRÀ: The Celebration, a family event for UK Black History Month that spotlights music, dance, and storytelling to honor the songs that shaped childhood across West Africa.
Wúrà: The Project is a soundscape for the child in you still humming, still remembering, still yearning for that gentle world beyond.
“Our history is important, and our voices matter. We just need to keep telling our stories.” — Dinachi
Listen here