 Slam poetry, rap battles, singing, song writing and drumming. Iyeoka (read: ee-yo-kah) is well versed in many expressive arts, but in essence she is a storyteller and poet. “My goal is very simple”, says the US Nigerian American, “I want to move the world, one poem at a time”. She does this enchantingly well with her album “Say Yes (R)evolved”. In poems set to music Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo (her full name) reveals herself to be a strong, self-confident woman of the modern world. She tells tales of love and relationships in the 21st century and philosophizes about the daily struggle of life and being a woman in a post-feminist world digging deeply and personally into her African roots. Musically Iyeoka handles expertly a wide variety of styles from electronic soul “Break Down Mode” to technofied R'n'B “Broken Hearts Anthem (Walk Away)”, from energetic dance inducing grooves “The Yellow Brick Road Song”, to a more jazzy “Happily Ever After”, from melodic soft rock “Say Yes”, to pop “Soundtrack to Life” and reggae “Testify”. She certainly has presence and shines out with a silky smooth elegance reminiscent of Sadé “This Time around”, “Simply Falling”. This woman has real all-round talent and she knows how to use it! Iyeoka was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Nigerian parents. After leaving school she studied pharmacy at Northeastern University and then worked as a pharmacist. At the same time she was developing her artistic interests but it was only around 2003 that they became more than just pastimes. Iyeoka asked herself if she really wanted to stand behind a counter all her life and soon afterwards she started to feed her undernourished passion for poetry, the answer she discovered was obvious. For Iyeoka as a ‘believer in god’, writing her eloquent verses has been an almost religious experience, she says it feels like, “as if someone ‘up there‘ helps me while I’m writing”. In order to deepen these experiences, she gave up pharmacy and began developing herself as a spoken word artist regularly attending and then winning poetry slam competitions. Pretty soon she felt comfortable and confident enough to make joint appearances with the likes of Chuck D of Public Enemy, Musiq Soulchild, Vivian Green, Gil Scott - Heron, Sonia Sanchez (activist of the Black Arts Movement) and the recently deceased writer Amiri Baraka. Always on the lookout for new challenges, Iyeoka has conquered many forms of ‘the art of sound’. Firstly by forming the band The Rock By Funk Tribe, which allowed her to weave together spoken and sometimes sung poetry with elements of jazz, funk, blues and gospel, and later in 2004, she issued her debut solo album “Black And Blues” followed in 2008 by “Hum The Bass Line” and the live recording “Live @ KTUH Honolulu”. In the same year she covered the U2 hit “Desire” for the tribute CD “In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2”, alongside Angelique Kidjo, Vieux Farka Touré and Les Nubians. In 2009 Iyeoka changed her style of “Poem songs” and shifted towards more traditional melodic song writing. Working with producer David Franz, she released the EPs “This Time Around” and “Run Into The Rain” which was the forerunner to “Say Yes”. This was her new format in full bloom and it gave her big break in America. The album single “Yellow Brick Road Song” was used in the HBO television series “How To Make It In America” and in 2011 used as the theme tune for the series “Fairly Legal”. At the same time the official video for “Simply Falling” became a phenomenal hit on YouTube, with more than 215 million views so far! With all her energy and incredibly positive aura, this U.S. east coast artist sends out a message of joy and confidence. Iyeoka, whose name in the Nigerian Esan language means “Respect Me”, is convinced a cure for the ills and suffering of our civilizations is possible, if one consciously taps into the power of ‘the moment’. In an interview she recently pointed out that her goals in life have not really changed since leaving her pharmaceutical career. Before it, her aim was to alleviate physical discomfort for her fellow human beings with medicines, now she wants to relieve psychological ills using music. The advantage of healing music over pharmaceuticals is of course that you don’t need a prescription and more importantly, you don’t have to worry about any unwanted side effects.
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