“Eba Anthem” reminds us that culture doesn’t survive solely through institutions or formal preservation. Sometimes, it lives in jokes, meals, and songs that feel ordinary, until you realise how much they hold together.
By Emmanuel ‘Waziri’ Okoro
Eba is never just food. For Nigerians, it’s comfort, survival, memory; it is something that follows you from home kitchens to cramped student flats abroad. In Faloh Jagaban’s viral track, “Eba Anthem”, that everyday swallow becomes the centre of a larger conversation about identity, humour, and belonging.
The song thrives on exaggeration and inside jokes, from lines like “Eba is set for the body” to “Eba le seyan lese” (Eba can even wound someone). Faloh isn’t just being funny for effect but tapping into a shared cultural language where food doubles as a metaphor. Anyone who grew up eating eba understands the joke immediately; the strength, the weight, the stubborn fullness. It’s comedy rooted in lived experience.
Released on April 1, 2025, and followed shortly by the “Alujo (Deluxe)” edition on April 15, “Eba Anthem” quickly travelled far beyond Nigeria. It became one of those songs that feels inevitable once it lands — quoted online, stitched into videos, and referenced across African and diaspora spaces in Europe and the UK. Cultural blogs, diaspora media pages, and community forums all latched onto it, not because it was polished pop, but because it felt familiar. It sounded like home.
What’s especially interesting is how the song escaped the screen. “Eba Anthem” now turns up regularly at African parties, weddings, birthdays, and casual “gatherings” where food and music are inseparable. Faloh has performed it live at several of these events, and in those moments, the song stops being a recording and becomes a shared ritual. People don’t just listen — they laugh, chant along, and eat. Culture happens in real time.
Faloh Jagaban, born Olamide Michael Falolu, is a UK-based, award-winning content creator, storyteller, and media entrepreneur. Through Faloh Media Entertainment Ltd., his work consistently sits at the intersection of humour, storytelling, and cultural documentation.
With “Eba Anthem”, Faloh shows how satire, vernacular speech, and ordinary experiences can carry cultural weight. In many diaspora contexts — where language schools, cultural centres, or community organisations may be limited — digital content often becomes the archive. The response to the song on platforms like TikTok and YouTube reflects this. People didn’t just share the track; they shared memories, jokes, regional food debates, and personal stories. The comment sections became extensions of the song itself.
That engagement peaked with the Eba Challenge, which saw Africans across the diaspora filming themselves eating eba while vibing to the track. Students, families, creators, and even restaurants joined in, each adding their own regional twists and humour. What could have been a fleeting trend turned into something closer to a collective ritual, a simple act that carried memory, pride, and connection across borders.
Faloh Jagaban’s role here goes beyond making a catchy song. He operates as both participant and observer of digital culture, documenting how African identity is lived, joked about, and sustained online. In that sense, his work feels less like performance and more like cultural translation, capturing moments many people recognise but rarely see reflected with this level of honesty.
Within the UK’s multi-cultural digital space, Faloh Jagaban’s storytelling adds texture to how African diaspora life is represented. He bridges heritage and platform culture without flattening either, offering work that resonates locally while remaining legible globally.
The song reminds us that culture doesn’t survive solely through institutions or formal preservation. Sometimes, it lives in jokes, meals, and songs that feel ordinary, until you realise how much they hold together.
Emmanuel ‘Waziri’ Okoro is a content writer and journo with an insatiable knack for music and pop culture, with bylines on Afrocritik, PM News Nigeria, Tribune, ThisDay Live, Vanguard, and The Guardian. When he’s not writing, you will find him arguing why Arsenal FC is the best football club in the multiverse. Connect with him on Twitter, Instagram, and Threads: @BughiLorde.