2010 Summer Spirt Garden Artist-in-Residence
The 2010 Summer Spirt Garden Artist-in-Residence, Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo is an internationally acclaimed performance poet, a frequent visiting teacher at the Esalen Institute and a 2010 TED Global Fellow. Iyeoka’s residency will include an evening performance of her poems and songs from her upcoming album “Say Yes” for “An Evening with Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo” on Saturday, August 21st at 8pm at the Big Sur Spirit Garden.
The Big Sur Spirit Garden Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program brings innovative, world-class artists to Big Sur for a month long residency sponsored by supporters of the Spirit Garden. While in residence, artists teach an interdisciplinary workshops, present a public event, and participate in community outreach. The program gives exposure to working touring artists, provides opportunities for collaboration with the local community of artists and teachers, and strengthens programmatic ties among poets, musicians, visual artists, dancers and other community arts entities. Past Artist in Residence include actress and educator Akuyoe Graham, Felix “Pupy” Insua Obbalubbe of Havana Cuba, and renowned American jazz trumpeter and composer, Hannibal Lokumbe.
The Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program is made possible by Jayson Fann, Founder and Director of the Big Sur Spirit Garden and the Esalen International Arts Festival.
REFLECTIONS OF a TED FELLOW (word 001)
As Fellows, we have seemed to have all naturally and rapidly evolved into these passionate global Ambassadors of the fellowship that selected us from all around the globe.
not my words but so Wiki-TRuE and mostly used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who work together as peers in the pursuit of knowledge or practice.
yes i looked it up. I had to. I appear to be actively living several definitions and variations of my current existence and i want to know what it all means. I am looking at my hands and my pen, my voice and my microphone, inquisitive with visions of what I have been selected to become.
I have witnessed an incredible thing, my friends.
The incredible things also happen to be information that I am really excited to share. First of all, thank you for all the emails and phone calls asking me about my experience at a TED conference as a “TED Fellow”–kind of a new-ish term at TED. This is only the 2nd class of TED Global Fellows- a new initiative.
My confession is that I was gifted with silence for 4 days after my experience in Oxford last week. Yup. I lost my voice. I saw it coming of course. It began on tuesday night at the Late Night event honoring the Fellows hosted by Johnnie Walker at the Freud Bar where I was the featured presenting artist. I was so excited about singing and playing my tambourine drum. It may have been a combination of drinking lots of exquisite top shelf whiskey with all my TED Fellows in the room as well as Imogen Heap and I LOVE Imogen Heap and I was having SO much fun singing and dancing that I pushed my voice a little too far forgetting all my important breath work that I intentionally teach to help me remember to do it. I talked so much the days between the 11th and the 16th my voice began it’s process of retreat and forced me to rejuvenate.
Rejuvenation is the reflection I am connected to at this moment. In my work as an educator in the midst of completing my first major album release, my spirit was aging so quickly with all the new and incredible moments I was moving. I needed an opportunity to allow my spirit to absorb a source of a different color. The color included red spelling the name TED.
TED is owned by a non-profit foundation and devoted to “ideas worth spreading”. This is the platform that brought us all together.
The tag was a simple promise, one that we have been more than willing to participate in exploring.
I experienced this particular Talk in Oxford on Wednesday morning of the 2010 TED Global Conference. It was the day after a VERY late night the previous night at the Late Night hosted by Johnnie Walker. I was so proud of myself for making it on time to the 8:30 am morning Session 3 live from the Simulcast Lounge, a colorful comfy chair, bean-bagged room that slingshot the sweet aroma of coffee, tea and honey. This was a great place to view the talks if you were unable to make it to the Main stage theater before it reached capacity. So there I was, watching Elif Shafak pull words and meaning into focus in her talk that included mention of spiritual companions, parallel conversations, and gaps that effect stories. So much happened between us in those 18 minutes. The effect resembled rejuvenation and a determination for my spirit to explore the joys of creating more moments to writing. I am so ripe now remembering how fully I surrendered to applying what she spoke with the life as a writer that I am currently living. When you have time to watch this talk, give thanks to the soon becomING your current.
Let me know what speaks to you and I will continue to give you glimpses of what spoke to me.
Elif Shafak explicitly defies definition — her writing blends East and West, feminism and tradition, the local and the global, Sufism and rationalism, creating one of today’s most unique voices in literature.
BRAVE NEW VOICES in LA………YAaaaAAAAaaAA!!!!
HERE is the arc of our influences…
Oh yes…it’s back!!! The international poetry youth slam event of the year. It is the event that showed me how imperative it is for me to empower MORE youth to pick up this incredible art form that is steadily shifting and inspiring us into limitless directions. Since my invitation last year to host, perform and present my STAY POET professional development workshop at Brave New Voices in Chicago in 2009, I went on to winning a title at the Individual World Poetry Slam competition and spending my year implementing this passion to focus on the youth as often as I am able. I have such an incredible personal story to spread and I have seen countless youth who have picked up a pen to explore and implement the strategic retelling of just as many incredible stories.
On the record
We speak for more than just ourselves with our poems.
TIPS TO SLAM:
-Create a voice that has an intention
-The subject can be a struggle. Pick one that allows you to offer your unique voice or a new perspective.
-It’s ok if poetry begins as just a hobby for you. The more you write, the better you will become at your hobby. Your interest will go on and on until the break of dawn. The break of dawn for me was the moment I implemented a plan to leave my full time, well paying pharmacy job to write and perform my poems full time.
-There is a part of life not being documented. Find it. Write about it. Slam it. Then stay a poet.
At the Brave New Voices festival there is an event featuring the finalists of the Global Climate Change poetry contest, this event takes place on Wednesday, July 21st at Club Nokia. Winners gain a free trip to The Sundance Film Festival in January 2011.
BRAVE NEW VOICES SPEAK GREEN
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE FESTIVAL THIS WEEK VISIT: http://www.bravenewvoices.org/
Iyeoka, who was recently selected as a 2010 Global TED Fellow
attended the TED Global Conference last week in Oxford, England. She had been invited to present songs off her latest EP “Yellow Brick Road”.
Iyeoka is currently back in LA filming her “behind the music” video journey leading to the completion of her debut album with Underground Sun based in Venice CA. The record will be released as a new full length album in the fall of 2010.
Report from TEDGlobal Session 9: The Unknown Brains
TED Fellow Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo performs one of her poems, “She Does Not Know Her Beauty” on identity and pride, a favorite of her mother’s.
Photo: TED / James Duncan Davidson
TEDGlobal 2010. Oxford, UK, July 12-16, 2010. Credit: Robert Leslie / TED
LYRICS to 2 songs from Iyeoka (requested by lovers of lyrics–so here it is)
this time around
VERSE 1:
If the only sun shining for me now
Was over a mountain or around a hill
If all i ever needed in this life time of unfamiliar
Was freedom from a wishing well
If we could ride a storm for a thousand years
hands picking cotton till we all remembered how to heal
No matter what the song says/ No matter what the soul says
This time around were gonna know exactly why we came here
CHORUS:
This Time around
The days are changing
Like Never before
This time around
This time around
All the world may never know
What happens if we stop dreaming
VERSE 2:
He remembers stepping out the front door into a storm of rain
she remembers chasing empty with old memories of better days
As simple as the air we breathe coming in a little cleaner
Take a moment to sing for love to bring on a new season for this change
Chorus
This Time around
The days are changing
Like Never before
This time around
This time around
All the world may never know
What happens if we stop dreaming
BRIDGE***
This Time around
We’re gonna watch the sunrise
These days are changing
Like never before
What happens if we stop dreaming
This time around
Chorus
This Time around
The days are changing
Like Never before
This time around
This time around
All the world may never know
What happens if we stop dreaming
Move your soul to let more love in
Find the door is finally open
See the clouds of pollution breaking…
this time around
Take a moment to sing for love
Take a moment to sing for love
Take a moment to sing for love…
this time around
Was over a mountain or around a hill
If all i ever needed in this life time of unfamiliar
Was freedom from a wishing well
hands picking cotton till we all remembered how to heal
No matter what the song says/ No matter what the soul says
This time around were gonna know exactly why we came here
This Time around
The days are changing
Like Never before
This time around
All the world may never know
What happens if we stop dreaming
He remembers stepping out the front door into a storm of rain
she remembers chasing empty with old memories of better days
Take a moment to sing for love to bring on a new season for this change
This Time around
The days are changing
Like Never before
This time around
All the world may never know
What happens if we stop dreaming
This Time around
We’re gonna watch the sunrise
These days are changing
Like never before
What happens if we stop dreaming
This time around
This Time around
The days are changing
Like Never before
This time around
All the world may never know
What happens if we stop dreaming
Find the door is finally open
See the clouds of pollution breaking…
this time around
Take a moment to sing for love
Take a moment to sing for love…
this time around
the Yellow Brick Road song
| Written by: |
| Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo ©
Verse 1- I see this fantasy taking me from Kansas to serenity chorus- I know how possible we are Verse 2- Pressing on in the eyes of a wise man’s conspiracy chorus- I know how possible Bridge- bum bah dum bum bah dum bum bah There’s no tornado Verse 3- Pressing on in the eyes of the child that’s inside of me Yeah! chorus- I know how possible Outro- I know just how possible bum bah dum bum bah dum bum bah So possible/This is where we belong |
| Written by: IYEOKA IVIE OKOAWO |
So THAT’S what they mean by “Your Brain On TED”
I’m sure a TED Conference is a perfect fit for plenty of people, but I’m just soaking in all the benefits this type of conference serves to feed a poet like me. These days, my poems are my work and my work are my poems. I am like soil on fertilizer. Every talk spins me into a testimony of thought. Due to excessive nutrients of my ripe creative canvas and constant opportunities to have a couple of dozen friends discuss how we could blissfully and diligently implement Ruth Ann Harnisch‘s talk and how to find time to experience a few lessons suggested from “Six Things I Learned During Six Months of Doing Nothing”, I am anticipating a high return on my goal to experience long term sustainability of my nurtured spirit. Here is a short list of the gems I received from Ruth. They were thoughts I never knew I needed to hear until the messages resonated enough for me to share them with my pen and paper.
I narrowed it down to a top 3 tailor made message just for me that appeared to synthesize loud and clear.
1) I can do nothing whenever I want. Is your time constantly being hijacked by other people?
2) All I want to do is breath and eat. Imagine giving yourself a permission slip to experience this sometime in the near future.
3) Try not to live your life like it’s a habit. You deserve so much better than these common features of an automatic behavior: lack of awareness, unintentionality, uncontrollability.
An independent thought:
IF SOMETHING IS NOT WORKING, CHANGE SOMETHING ABOUT WHAT YOU aRe DOING.
And Now the Good News…
I’m off to Oxford today as a 2010 TED Global Fellow! To be far away from home is not always easy for me. Oxford was an easy destination to say YES to. What helps me in the abundance of necessary travel is the understanding that what we were meant to experience is not always going to be available to us at home.
The gift about the TED process is this…
I was required to dig deep and answer many questions regarding what I am doing with my lifeforce, my work, my art, my music and why I have chosen this particular path. It has been a fascinating experience to discover those who find my path relevant to showcase to a larger community outside of the tribes already exposed and supportive of my work and journey.
I decided to answer the call to present as a TED Fellow because it was the right time. The right time presented itself the moment I recieved a twitter message from a friend who recognized the direction of my journey. Sometimes I find it necessary to slow down and respond to the unscripted opportunities drifting around me. This is when the road to a TED Global Conference became my current destination.
There are a series of questions I have been asking myself regarding what I would like to accomplish with my movement of my new music and poetry. What part of me that is changing and growing can be a good idea worth spreading with a community encouraged to listen?
I have a very good sense of what the answer is and part of the bigger gift to myself is to allow these ideas of changing and growing to stay with me until the moment arrives for me to finally share the good news to all of global family.
How Season 7 of “So You Think You Can Dance” is Revolutionizing the Institution of Dance
A major theme for me has been centered around my very personal desire to change and grow.
When I think of the type of support I need to travel the extra distance of this existence, I think of my family, my friends, my colleagues and fans who have encouraged me for over a decade to continue to invest and pursue my art. I am grateful for a series of landmark experiences that has helped me believe that I could achieve more.
At the core of the series “So You Think You Can Dance”, I have recognized a similar level of support demonstrated in the producers and choreographers involved in the show. This year in particular, SYTYCD is becoming even more focused on their goals to, as Debbie Allen put it 2 seasons ago, “revolutionize the art of dance”.
This season, only 10 finalists will be selected from intensive auditions and then paired with an “all-star” competitor from a previous season. Not only do I think this to be a brilliant marketing plan for the show, especially from a fan’s perspective, but I think the mentorship potential of having a mixed competitors union can further the spirit that SYTYCD is capable of igniting in the audience and the growing genre the show is hoping to directly inspire.
Before I head off to the west coast to finally complete my album and consequently loose access to my beloved DVR, I decided to watch a marathon of 6 episodes of the series. In one of the episodes, a judge travels to the home of a contestant where the dancer and the family await the word on whether they have been selected for the final cast. The compassion and love exhibited by Nigel Lythgoe, who is also the show’s executive producer, Mary Murphy, Mia Michaels, and the other judges truly demonstrated to me what I believe pulls a priceless human element to the experience and the harsh reality of rejection and success in the world of competitive arts.
I LOVE this show. I love seeing the support exhibited by these families for their children who are so passionately pursuing their dream. Unlike the typical American Idol contestant, all of the dancers who make it to Vegas seem to have a deeper connection to their dream and a raw drive to excel in the diversity of dance. With attitudes of “whatever may come”, and “their is no other option for me but this movement”, I am humbled watching their level of commitment.
And they come.
Year after year you see these young dancers return a little bit stronger with hopes that this year might be the year the world will recognize why they keep coming back to dance and be challenged. SYTYCD has seemed to tap into the natural FACT that there is more to it then just a dance and a dancer. There is truly something special about the experience of watching passionate people grow and fully blossom in a summer, in a year, in a decade.
On another related note, it is MY DREAM to create a composition that will one day be recognized and used for a choreographed moment at a rehearsal, an audition or at show time for SYTYCD. I often find motivation to write songs by imagining ways a dancer could connect to my lyrics and to the melody and the music. I like to think that there is a bigger purpose behind why I keep getting pulled season after season to witness these major transformations in these contestants. I feel myself breathing, dancing, laughing, crying, cheering and growing with them.
I am currently creating some extremely compelling songs with my producer Francis Phan and my producer, songwriting partner David Franz for this new album we will release in the Fall. Many of these songs I have been intentionally creating with the hopes to inspire an audience of dancers and choreographers to access the full potential of their art with help from the music.
-Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo
Poet, Recording Artist
2010 TED Global Fellow
Regarding Iyeoka and pharmacy and her reaction to a desire to CHANGE & GROW…
I would find time to write when i was in my pharmacy classes.
When the teacher was lecturing, i would write in the margins of my notebook– poems…words.
It’s what would keep me awake during the class. That, and over sized thermoses of caffeine. While studying for any of my major pharmacy exams, I would block out half an hour segments to write poems. It was one of the most aggressive things I did to contribute to my sanity.
When I became a licenced pharmacist, I would prop up a piece of paper with a new hand written poem on the bottom of my computer screen and I would memorize my poems while I checked and inputted prescriptions. I had no scheduled lunch breaks working retail with CVS. So I would go to the bathroom periodically and write whenever I was hit with major inspiration. I was always building towards balance. After 5 years of working full time, anywhere between 60 and 42 hours a week I decided to cut my hours down from 42 hours a week to 30 hours a week to make more time for my writing and open the doors to performance opportunities. After 2 years of working in this way and after realizing 30 hours was still too much of my time to spend a week in the pharmacy, I took a 3 month leave of absence from a job and a company I had worked with for 10 years, first as a student, then as an intern, and finally as a licensed health care professional. After I left, I never came back as a full time pharmacist again. For a little while, it felt good to pop in and work a few shifts with CVS here and there. However, after a year or so of working one or 2 shifts a month, I would find myself dreading the thought of going back into the pharmacy. My heart was not into it anymore and I lost the deep connection I had with the community and my co-workers. At times I felt like an impostor. I knew I could do the job very well, but I did not feel like I belonged there. Sometimes you know, and I knew.
Fast forward…I am moving forward. I respect my past.
And I am so grateful to have found the courage to react to my desire to change and grow.
-Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo
Iyeoka, who is scheduled to present and teach a workshop at the 2010 Esalen International Arts Festival in Big Sur CA, was recently selected as a 2010 Global TED Fellow and will be attending the TED Global Conference this July in Oxford, England. She has been invited to present two songs off her latest EP “Yellow Brick Road”, This Time Around and The Yellow Brick Road Song, which was also featured on an episode of HBO’s new hit series How To Make It In America. Iyeoka will be releasing a new full length album in the fall of 2010.
The TED Fellows program helps world-changing innovators from around the globe become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities. Fellows are drawn from many disciplines that reflect the diversity of TED’s members: technology, entertainment, design, the sciences, the humanities, the arts, NGOs, business and more.
The Yellow Brick Road Song Video (rough cut)
Because we are so grateful to many of you who are making this movement with the MUSIC possible, ENJOY A SNEAK PEAK OF IYEOKA’S LATEST SONG directed and filmed by Mike Gorenberg….
Final edit of YBR is on the way!
Iyeoka is in Nigeria rallying World Cup Fans!
Shine Like The Lights (Super Eagles version) by Iyeoka-new releases
Iyeoka is ready to get ALL SOCCER FANS TO RALLY. Iyeoka reps Nigeria for Africa. This is a landmark 1st Time Host of an African Country for the FIFA WORLD CUP which will kick off in South Africa on the 11th. CHECK out new single SUPEREAGLES-Shine Like The Lights- We’re about to get NIGERIANS to RALLY wih this song out here! Get on the dance!!!
Thank you to our Kickstarter Backers!!
David, Iyeoka and Francis would like to thank you, our backers, for helping us achieve our incredible goal of raising $10K in 90 days! We are so excited and humbled at the number of supporters who have shown faith in our music and what we’re trying to achieve.
Over Memorial Day weekend, the three of us were working together hashing out song arrangements out of David’s studio in LA. We pledge to our backers that we will keep you abreast of progress of the album and how we will invest your pledges. More importantly, Iyeoka is excited to start on the commissioned work promised for many of our backers. Thank you for believing in us, being part of our tribe and our journey.
If you have any questions or would like to be involved with our movement, please contact Francis at francis (at) francisphan.com.
Peace and Blessings,
David, Iyeoka and Francis
The LEADERS of the WORD speaking TriBe (are)
=an ENSEMBLE of Poets and Writers who choose to speak, whisper, or slam the words hand written on the page.
=a group a poets who have known each other for 10+ years predominantly through the poetry slam circuit.
Spotlight:
These days, Iyeoka spends just as much time in a Venice CA vocal booth recording songs to appear on her new record than on the main stage rocking and weaving her poems like it’s a free-styling lifestyle. She is one of the best slam poets in the nation as a two-time National Poetry Slam Individual Finalist and with a 2nd place title at the 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam competition. Iyeoka spends much of her time in communities around the country inspiring new writers to start speaking the word and seasoned poets to continue to spread the word.
In her words:
Pluses to being a part of the slam family
“Everyone pushes each other…”
Best part of being a poet
“…traveling the country and the world, most of the times with your friends, writing poems daily…word.”
Why is now the time to bring together leaders of this Word speaking triBe
“We have to get together to make our verbal sport better.
The art of Speaking a poem involves the process of taking a survival grip on freedom. It’s a blessing to travel and share that revelation.”
3wishes
What are three wishes you have to improve yourself? Three wishes to improve your community? Three wishes to improve the world?
CONGRATULATIONS TO IYEOKA IVIE OKOAWO 2010 TEDGlobal FELLOW
AND NOW THE GOOD NEWS…
The 2010 TEDGlobal Fellows will join the TED community in Oxford for a Fellows pre-conference and for TEDGlobal 2010: “And Now the Good News.”
About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where three exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action, and TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world. Follow TED on Twitter, twitter.com/tedtalks, or on Facebook, www.facebook.com/TED
TEDGlobal 2010, “And Now the Good News,” will be held July 13-16, 2010, in Oxford, UK. TED2011, “The Rediscovery of Wonder,” will be held Feb. 28 – March 4, 2011, in Long Beach, California, along with TEDActive, a simulcast conference of TED2011, in Palm Springs, California.
FULL PRESS RELEASE of TED announcement click here.
Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo is currently traveling between Boston MA, Venice CA, and Big Sur CA leading poetry and voice expression workshops while working on her highly anticipated, fan-supported self-titled album project due out in September with producers David Franz and Francis Phan.
Iyeoka will be performing w/ the Rock by Funk Tribe at the
2010 Esalen International Music & Arts Festival on July 3rd in Big Sur CA
The World Music, Dance and Arts Festival 2010 features six weekend workshops, a group of visual exhibitions, and a special music and dance celebration on the afternoon of July 3. Buy tickets online at www.esalen.org or by calling 831-667-3000. Workshop participants receive free admission to the arts and music festival. Registration for Iyeoka’s workshop in NOW OPEN.
space is limited. Click here for more into and to register.
69 BACKERS $7,970 PLEDGED OF $10,000 GOAL 34 HOURS TO GO…
THIS PROJECT WILL ONLY BE FUNDED IF AT LEAST $10,000 IS PLEDGED BY THURSDAY MAY 27, 11:59PM EDT.
TO PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT—–> click here now: http://kck.st/aZkG2O
then click on the green BACK THIS PROJECT to select your pledge!
Iyeoka and the LA RbF Tribe LIVE performance
Iyeoka and the LA RbF Tribe LIVE performance from ROCK BY FUNK TRIBE on Vimeo.
PLEDGE today & LOCK IN a PRE-ORDER OF IYEOKA’S NEW ALBUM!!!
TriBe UP!!!
Campaign begins on February 28th and ends on May 27th 2010.
Until I Overflow: Unearthing Your Creative Genius
 |
The Esalen Institute
Workshop Hosted by Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo
with Special Guests Dr. Thelma Bryant Davis and Akili Jamal Haynes
In these times of great ecological and social transformation, the rivers and the mountains can’t find words. The voice of our own culture struggles to find peace with the issues we are surrounded with in our communities.
In this dynamic workshop, come learn how to express your voice and that of the world that has embraced you. Learn techniques to craft your own anthem around the solutions of today. We can work together to shift the paradigm…
This workshop is for both beginning and experienced writers, slam poets, actors, and non-writers who seek to discover the empowering medium of poetry. Through group exercises participants will form a fertile environment to express themselves poetically.
The art of writing can become a spiritual exploration that brings you into contact with your authentic voice. The aim of this workshop is to bring each participant face to face with the invincible spirit of his or her own being. Weave a spellbinding tale, tell the burning story or poem that will tap into the genius and beauty inside of you, lifting you into greater self-expression, passion, freedom, and joy. Here we experience deliberate spiritual nourishment and poetic powers to recharge our spirits, bodies, and hearts.
Please note: On July 3rd there will be a property-wide celebration with live entertainment. This event is open to the public.
Reservations Information (Accommodations & Pricing)
GET TO KNOW IYEOKA
IYEOKA is a lover of the usual–anything in full bloom, crescent moons, summer rain, miracles, most fellas named Lover, lazy days in September, ALL usages of the smiley face emoticon, good movies, beagles in need of a little love and a lot of exercise, soulful melodies, skinny dippers, electric blankets in the winter, happily ever after endings, watching a beautiful woman dive into an ocean and a truly brave man dive after her, poems that begin at the end, poems with clever beginnings, subliminal morals in a story, and catching side glances of thunder and rainbows in waterfalls;
IYEOKA is the sworn enemy of the ugly side of beauty, dirty underwear, MTV’s Real World except for the very first one that was the one and only REAL real world, permanent frowns–although she believes she can turn them upside down with her don’t worry be happy songs, general mud throwers and stereotypes that all Nigerians are 419 scam cons.
Born and raised in the heart of Boston by two very deep rooted Nigerian parents, Iyeoka learned from an early age the value of education and the poison of poverty, the meaning of words like hope and change and the power we have to manifest the change you were hoping for.
Now on her third installment to her life’s work, she writes deep, lyrical, catchy, soul-baring music that has drawn comparisons to the timbre of Sade and the thirst of a young undiscovered Nina Simone. She has two independent releases under her belt, 2004’s LP “Black and Blues”; 2008’s LP “Hum the Bass Line”, both produced by Francis Phan; and Fall 2009 releases of 2 of 3 EP’s leading to her third full length project, a self-titled debut album with independent label Underground Sun Records.
On the eve of mainstream recognition, Iyeoka’s newest single “The Yellow Brick Road Song”, produced by composer David Franz and recently placed in the third episode of HBO’s newest series “How To Make It In America”, embodies the raw philosophies of a hopeless optimist highlighting messages to the world that “…I know just how possible we are, we can follow our own yellow brick road. And there’s no tornado that can stop us now!”
Iyeoka is currently recording songs between Boston and LA while traveling to distances near and far offering her music and poetry for a living.
The Yellow Brick Road song by Iyeoka
more music here:
http://www.jango.com/music/IYEOKA
Daydreaming sweetly…
As you may know, Iyeoka had the great honor of representing BOSTON at the Individual World Poetry Slam Competition in October 2009 and pulled off a 2nd place victory!
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This is the girl who passed through a real rainbow two weeks ago on her way to a mountaintop that asked her to arrive 2 hrs earlier. She took her time, daydreamed sweetly in her rental car. She celebrated the detours. Turns out the rainbow waited for her.
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Sound: With a sweet soul vibe reminiscent of Sade and a fresh mix of LIVE and electronic instrumentation from production duo David Franz and Francis Phan, the new sound of spoken-word soulstress, Iyeoka (pronounced “EE-yo-kah”) is emerging as a perfect balance of thought provoking lyrics, captivating vocals and gratifying music production.
The name of the new EP “This Time Around” is far from just a slogan or a silent vow. This Time Around is an anthem addressing the hopes and dreams of each of us, from the individual to the Nation, and the innate power we all have within us to change everything. As we navigate through one of the most transitional periods of our generation, Iyeoka’s music speaks of the journey that catapults us through the challenges and triumphs, chronicling the trajectory of our lives as an extraordinary people and the changes we’d like to make This Time Around.
