to my mother —

Ayaba Adepeju

Happy birthday, Mummy. This is made specially for you, a great mom, blessed child, special person, and for almost twenty years now, mother and father to us both.

Here are highlights
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01My Genesis
2006The year everything began and changed

You gave birth to me as a mother, then guard and watch like a father, you became both, and you never once made it feel like a burden to us.

In 2006, Daddy passed away. My brother and I were still young not old enough to remember losing him, too young to understand what it would take for you to raise us without him.

What we didn't fully see back then, we see clearly now: you didn't just fill the space he left. You became it.

Almost twenty years later, we are two people standing upright and every inch of that has your impact and imprint written boldly.

And before all of that, there was a rhythm
02Your Rhythm

Before you were everything to us, you were a thespian.

Long before duty asked everything of you, Bata already had you. Bata is not soft music. It is percussive, commanding, ancestral — and so are you.

Iyaalu

The mother drum, lead voice of the ensemble. Fitting, for a woman who has always led from the front.

Footwork

Precise, grounded, unwavering. The same discipline you brought to every year you raised us alone.

Legacy

A heritage you carry, and one you've quietly passed down to us in ways louder than words.

So we made you something to keep