What is an owambe? And how to throw a virtual one

If you have Nigerian friends, you have heard the word. “Are you coming to the owambe on Saturday?” It sounds like a place, and in a way it is: the place where the party is. Here is what an owambe is, where the word comes from, what happens at one, and how to throw a virtual owambe for friends who are scattered across three time zones.

The meaning of owambe

Owambe (Yoruba purists spell it owanbe) is the Yoruba name for a big, lavish party. The word comes from a Yoruba phrase that means, roughly, “it is there” or “that is where it is happening.” In other words: the party is on, and everybody who matters will be there.

The word itself is usually credited to the world of jùjú music. The jùjú musician Tunde Nightingale, active from the 1940s, is said to have coined it, and it came to name both his sound and the party life of the cities of south-western Nigeria. The parties themselves are much older: they grew out of Yoruba festivals and court celebrations, then took in colonial, returnee and modern influences along the way.

What is an owambe for?

Almost anything worth celebrating. Weddings are the famous ones, but an owambe can mark a birthday, a wedding anniversary, a housewarming, a graduation, a chieftaincy title or a funeral for someone who lived a long life. The occasion changes; the scale does not. An owambe is meant to be generous, loud and well dressed.

What happens at an owambe

The clothes

Guests close to the family wear aso ebi, Yoruba for “family cloth”: a fabric and colour the hosts choose, which their people buy and have sewn into their own styles. You can tell at a glance who belongs to which side. Women often add a gele, the tall Yoruba head tie; men wear agbada robes or other native wear with a fila cap. Our guide to aso ebi and the owambe dress code goes deeper.

The food

Food at an owambe is about abundance. It usually starts with small chops, a platter of finger foods such as puff-puff, spring rolls, samosas and peppered chicken, and then the main event: jollof rice, fried rice, and often amala with ewedu, pounded yam with soup, asun (spicy grilled goat) and pepper soup. Nobody is meant to leave hungry.

The music and the dancing

A live band or a DJ, often both. The music runs from traditional styles such as jùjú to modern genres, and the dance floor is the centre of the day. When the celebrants dance in, the room gets up with them.

The spraying

Spraying is the famous part: guests press or shower banknotes on the celebrants while they dance, as praise and as a gift. It is a joyful thing to watch. It is also, strictly, illegal in Nigeria to spray naira notes, and the law has been enforced. Read more in our guide to Nigerian party culture.

How to throw a virtual owambe

Not everyone can fly to Lagos for a sixtieth. If your family is spread between Lagos, London and Houston, a virtual owambe is a way to be in one place at once. One option is AJ Cities, a free open-world browser game set on the edge of Ajegunle, Lagos, whose party mode is a live estate party with other real players.

To be completely clear: this is a virtual party inside the game. There is no real venue, no real date and no real ticket, and nothing in the game gets you into a real event. What it gives you is a shared Lagos-style night you can all walk into from a phone or a computer.

Step by step

1. Agree a world. Party mode has three: always day, always night, and real Lagos time. Everyone who picks the same world usually joins the same estate, which holds up to 60 players. A daytime owambe? Pick always day. A night do? Always night.
2. Send one link. Everybody opens ajcities.com and chooses Party at the estate. Nothing to download. Each guest signs in with an email and must be 18 or over.
3. Dress for it. You arrive outside the main gate, next to the Palmline Unisex Salon and Gatefold Clothing, which change your hair, skin tone and clothes for free. The game has no aso ebi fabrics, so agree a colour instead and match as best you can. That is the owambe spirit anyway.
4. Get past the gate. Ask the police to let you in. Most nights about four in five guests who ask get in free; if not, ask again or buy an optional 24-hour ticket from ₦250.
5. Pick your hall. Meet on June 12 Street, head down to the beach party (tickets from ₦400 open it) or go to Prizm, the club, where the artist Joe-Izzy plays from 9 pm to 1 am Lagos time. Every ticket opens Prizm’s ground floor, and the bouncers sometimes wave guests in without one.
6. Let the music play. The estate radio plays the same song at the same moment for every player, so your aunty in Lagos and your cousin in Peckham hear the same track.

Look out for the poster in the waiting area as you queue: someone in the estate is throwing an owambe for Mama Tinuke’s sixtieth, aso ebi gold and wine. You are not invited. Throw your own.

What a virtual owambe cannot do

Be honest with your guests. You cannot eat the jollof, and you cannot spray anybody: there is no spraying in the game. What you can do is gather, chat with the people around you, walk the street together and stand at the same club stage at the same time. For a family split across continents, that is often the part that matters.

An owambe for grown-ups

AJ Cities is 18+. Its story side deals with police corruption, crime and a club owner with a past, and the party is for adults. If you want the story first, start with AJ’s story: a man deported from London, broke on June 12 Street, who dreams of throwing his own party at Prizm one day.

What does owambe mean?

It is the Yoruba name for a big, lavish party. The word comes from a Yoruba phrase meaning roughly “it is there” or “that is where it is happening”.

What do you wear to an owambe?

Family and close friends usually wear aso ebi, a fabric the hosts choose. Other guests wear smart native wear or dress up in the day’s colours.

What food is served at an owambe?

Usually small chops to start, such as puff-puff, spring rolls and samosas, then jollof rice, fried rice, swallow and soup, asun and pepper soup.

Is the virtual owambe in AJ Cities a real event?

No. It is a virtual party inside the game. There is no real venue, date or ticket.