IYEOKA'S ROLL CALL

Get to know my creative process.

iyeoka — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 20:32:31 +0000

Sound bites I write from a place of casual calm. I choose to access a picture that once called forth an emotion. I Call it in. I write what I see. I recall the experience. I write what I feel. … Continue reading →

Rule #8

iyeoka — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 04:51:17 +0000

In a series of three or more heartbreaks with a lover, occupy a hiatus to buffer between healing sessions, except the last. Thus transform your insight to include forgiveness. Pull a grip of copper coated revelations to clear a beautiful … Continue reading →

Get Rid of the World

iyeoka — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:22:37 +0000

poems by Iyeoka. I heard the choir sing. It brought tears to my eyes. The harmony showed me how to get rid of the world. Tomorrow I will smile for the camera. I will light a thousand candles. I will sing a million mantras about surviving the heat of this fire lifting all the stars inside me. Tomorrow I will write another poem. I will read another book to get me believing in these moments quick to switch on and off. I will sing another song about love, about God, about a stage with a microphone waiting to take me closer to home. Continue reading →

The Patient Sea of Fullfilment

iyeoka — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:20:06 +0000

An apron of life and wind
lifts into the blue sky.

A heart sinks untimely with a smile.

Tears invade concrete

between the fear of silence

and relief of the truth.

This is the distance of fulfillment

taking possession in the tide

of a deeper aching need.
I love you in this fearless wave.
I wait for your love
in a guided patient sea.

TIDES OF FULFILLMENT

iyeoka — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:31:45 +0000

An apron of life and wind
lifts into the blue sky.

A heart sinks untimely with a smile.

Tears invade concrete

between the fear of silence

and the relief of truth.

This is the distance of fulfillment

taking possession in the tide

of a deeper aching need.

I want to share my words with the world –Iyeoka

iyeoka — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:55:47 +0000

I want to share my words with the world –Iyeoka

SOURCE: NATIONAL MIRROR

TERH AGBEDEH 01/02/2012 00:36:00

With her mum, Dr. Okoawo

Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo a.k.a. Iyeoka, was born in Boston, United States of America to Esan-speaking Nigerian parents from Edo State. She attended Northeastern University where she studied Pharmacy and practised for over 10 years all along performing as a musician. In 2000, Iyeoka received her degree as a full time registered pharmacist, but in 2005 she found herself wondering whether Pharmacy is what she would be doing all her life.

My spirit was asking me that question while I was working as a pharmacist and my spirit answered, no, you want to be a drummer, a singer, a poet, you want to share your words with the world and that is how I got my start , she said at a welcome ceremony cum press conference put together in her honour by the President of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, PMAN, Ras Murphy Bank-Anthony. I feel welcome , were the very first words the poet, songstress and educationist, who is signed on to the Underground Sun music label based in California, uttered at the gathering.

I feel so excited having Ivie in the house this morning. From our hearts, we welcome our daughter to Nigeria as a performing musician representing Nigeria in the United States of America , Bank-Anthony said, using the opportunity to present Iyeoka with a PMAN membership card. Iyeoka explained at the PMAN secretariat in Anifowoshe, Ikeja, where she became the association’s first member in 2012 that in 2005, she started putting Pharmacy aside and decided to make music her ally. That was when she started working on her poems as if someone up there was helping me write them .

I’m a true believer in God , she confessed, adding that before 2005, she was involved in a couple of musical performances. After she made that decision, she has been performing all over America and is set to do two shows at the Mobile World Congress: Redefining Mobile in Barcelona, Spain this month. Her first album came out in 2001, the second in 2004 titled Black and Blues, another one came out in 2008 called Hum the Baseline.

Her latest album titled Say Yes came out in 2010. One of the reasons for her trip to Nigeria is to promote Say Yes and to continue to connect with her roots in Edo State . Iyeoka said it has come to a point where she is now able to send a message of healing with her music and knowledge of Pharmacy.

Although I’m capable of being a one-woman show, I have a very strong group of musicians who have supported me for over 10 year. I call them my tribe. So I have a t ribe of musicians based in Boston, Hawaii and in California, world class musicians, the ones that perform with India Arie and Macy Gray , she said, adding that Macy Gray’s music director is also her music director.

Ikeoya said she can’t wait to do a show here in Nigeria so her label plans to train a tribe of musicians here that she can work with. And yes, Pharmacy is still a part of her life as she now counsels on over-the-counter medication, thereby having the best of two worlds. Iyeoka is inspired by her mum, Dr. Regina Okoawo, who travelled with her to Nigeria and was at the PMAN secretariat. Her father and siblings also inspire her, so do Nigerian musicians, Femi Kuti and Babatunde Olutunji, among others. Iyeoka writes all her songs, the poetry that she performs, and has been writing songs for over 10 years.

I have written songs for other musicians, but for the most part, I write my own songs and sing my own songs, she said. She has also performed with American greats like Jill Scot, while also opening a show for Femi Kuti when he came on one of his tours of the United States. She has the lyrics to all her songs on her album as well as on her web site because she said the youths should not just see what an artist has to offer, but also actually be able to read the significance of what is making those words of consequence. I learnt from Babatunde Olutunji who is a great drummer.

He used to say you have to be of consequence and that really made a big impression on me. From his legacy, I have leant drumming and I have had a really deep inspiration from him , she said. Ikeoya also has a collection of poems coming out this year. It is her first book of poems titled Iyeokan: Esan Names, Proverbs and Poems from an Esan Woman. It is an integral part of her language preservation project.

PMAN Embraces Iyeoka With Say Yes

iyeoka — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:50:53 +0000

SATURDAY, 04 FEBRUARY 2012 00:00 BY MICHAEL ORIE SATURDAY MAGAZINE – WEEKEND BEATS
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

THE Performing Music Association of Nigeria (PMAN) has identified with the effort of award- winning poet, Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo. The drummer, songstress and poet, who has, in her sojourn in Music projected the image of Nigeria recently paid a courtesy visit to the PMAN office in Lagos after 10 years of playing professional music in Boston and other parts of the world.

According to the PMAN president, Ras Murphy Van Anthony, who promised to harmonise the sector and give recognition to artistes who come around both home and abroad, “We are blessed with various talents that have distinguished themselves everywhere they go in the world, we will continue to celebrate our own.”

Iyeoka called on PMAN to create more awareness to bridge the gap of information so that Nigerian artistes out there would know.

“ Is a great deal for me and a good opportunity. I never knew or heard of PMAN before now, until I accidentally met with the president during an interview with Edo Broadcasting Service (EBS), where I was talking about my various albums.”

As a drummer of great repute whose inspiration is Victor Uwaifor, her poetic verses tell a lot of where she is from. Her latest album Say Yes, launched in 2010, is being promoted in Nigeria with a message of healing.

“Say Yes is a holistic experience, which feels like you are receiving an invitation into the beautiful mind and soul of the ever-evolving creative mastermind. It would be wise of any true music lover to have such a timeless collection of art in his or her musical repertoire. In all my albums, my watchword is healing even with my Pharmacy background, I used words to preach this.”

Iyeoka’s lyrical prowess and vocal talents invoke the spirit of soul-shakers like Nina Simone, Sade, Lauryn Hill and Amy Winehouse. A storyteller to the core, Iyeoka’s hope-filled words pour out from within and build momentum based on truth. As the words transform into songs, they reemerge as unique, emotionally complex gifts to her audience, touching on a wide range of issues—love, women, culture, struggle, and relationships and others.

“I write all my songs and I have been doing this for 10 years now; I do write for other musicians too. I make it a point of duty to publish my songs on the internet so that the youth will not only hear the song but could read through the lines and get the messages embedded in it.”

Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo, a poet and recording Artist, is 2010 TED Global Fellow. The second place winner at the 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, such is the spokesperson of Amenawon Foundation.

Iyeoka was a practicing pharmacist before launching her career as a poet, singer, activist and educator.

In her native Esan language, Iyeoka means “I want to be respected.”

By channeling her culture and ancestral influences, she delivers an authentic and inspiring message of healing through accessing the power of the moment.

Iyeoka began her musical career by founding the group The Rock by Funk Tribe, a groupof musicians that enabled her to interweave her poetry with jazz, blues, funk and gospel.

She released her first solo album of poem-songs called “Black and Blues” in 2004 through Phanai Records and then began to tour and make numerous appearances on other artiste’s albums, including The Press Project’s “Get Right” album and “Memoirs of the Tempo” by Tempo Valley.

Author of this article: By Michael Orie

TIME TO BECOME AGAIN

iyeoka — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:45:12 +0000

Because it doesn’t matter anymore.
Because you once marveled me completely
and the thoughts of you now stirs me angry.
Maybe I could use a drink, vodka.
But it is more likely that I’m going
to keep working towards
letting you go
making you go away
insisting you disappear.
Motivating your gutless
space to shrink
until I successfully
forget about the pain and suffering
I allowed you to put me through.
The one thing you knew
I would need to efficiently complete
my next book of poetry,
To herald a complete recovery,
To trigger my worst breakdown,
the one that would trigger
my next rebound towards rebirth.
I can’t wait to stop
loving you this way.
Enjoy getting drunk again,
against your better judgement,
against my better judgement.
You, managing to make me
hate love sometimes
and like love sometimes,
against your better judgement.
I’m still trying to understand.
Apparently.
And now I digress way to often
stalking your photo albums,
searching for pictures
of my heart.
How lost is missing in action?
How missed are my lips
from joy?
How real is my desire
to drink vodka again?

I am withdrawing my desire
to love you like I once did.
I have taken my
closer look.
This time the truth
will be simpler
than inducing fever.
When they all figure
you out eventually,
detachment
is mandatory.
It will resemble
discovering a
shameless asshole,
a coward who figured
out how to practice
breaking hearts with
eyes full of excuses,
shut down from seeing
too often, the real thing.

Remembering how
love starts,
like an out
of body experience,

Become again
the first responder
to happiness,
the girl who
achieves the
true brighter side
of everything.
Even the loneliness!
Become again
the girl who
always looks up
for the moon
ready for black
night to take over
her deepest blues.
Become again
the fire that
continues to sinew
and burn,
even when lost
in the bottom of
the ocean,
become again
the voice of reason
reminding you of
what you already know
about love.
The easy come,
easy go of love.
Become again
the double rainbow
that you will encounter
alone,
the stone in your heart
that you will melt
with love that will
pull you into a new
and unbreakable
home

CHECK OUT THE LATEST YELLOW BRICK ROAD SONG VIDEO REMIX dir: Mike Gorenberg

iyeoka — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:48:23 +0000

REBIRTH: Featured in video Iyeoka, Jane Fonda

iyeoka — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:38:13 +0000

Watch live streaming video from tedxwomen at livestream.com

Lyrics For Literacy
A written transcript of Ep.4 of When Women Were Drummers

When Women Were Drummers Ep. 4
Presenting at TEDxWOMEN Session 3: REBIRTH
Paley Center For Media, New York
December 1, 2011

Cast:
One woman on drum:
Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo
Stage set:
One boom microphone
Multimedia flash drive displaying 107
photo series of WWWD

ACT I:
Iyeoka approaches a centered microphone and sings accapella:

My mother
and my father
Don’t own me.
So I’ll try to make
Heaven
My home…

Iyeoka begins a healing drum polyrhythm and sings

Talking about a child
That do love freedom
Here is one…

In 2005, I was working as a full time pharmacist wondering
if this is what I would be doing my entire life…

Iyeoka continues rhythm and addresses the audience:

i wanna believe that everything happens 4 a reason
i wanna believe that God has a plan for me and
that i am on a path 2 fulfill a destiny involving
miracles, and sunsets with amazing revelations
but i know now, that for every event
we claim 2 justify makes sense
always comes 1 that finds a way
to crush your faith in belief systems

but we all wanna to find new ways
to rationalize our dilemmas
trivializing these major life transformations
forgetting that in a blink of an eye
all of what we think we know can change

just once i need someone to show me
all the things that i cant see
show me the ripples that can encourage
even the greatest skeptics amongst us to believe
acknowledge the power of what was meant to be
because all of what you think you know
can at any point end abruptly

because what remains the same
are lifes little downpours of
magnificent pain
and after the storm is over
somehow life and death manages a balance
to make room for one more
and yes, there is a whole lot of hurt in this world
and more nonsense than any of us can list in 3 minutes
experiences out there that would cause the
most saved christian to run to atheism

because at the end of the day
there has got 2 be more 2 all of this
then the rationalizations that lie between the
legitimate that everything happens 4 a reason

so find it

find it and let that be a daily testament
that every person you meet at any point
can play a role in your life
that can change the dynamics of everything
and every day you breathe
is another days opportunity left to dream

So dream

dream of thunder and lightening
and coincidences that saved your life
and strangers that helped you get by
and failures that pushed you to fly
and moments that could change you
in the blink of an eye

End.

Click here to hear an Audio sample and multimedia video of this poem:

http://www.maliwoods.com/2011/05/blink-of-an-eye/