Her story is unique. She started singing from age five. Though one of her elder brothers, Okodua, always taunted the small girl for humming what he considered 'undecipherable babblings,' that little girl stuck to her guns.
Welcome to the world of a songbird Iyeoka Okoawo. Born in Houston, Massachusetts in 1975 to Nigerian parents from Edo State, her story is that of a restless soul in search of her essence. She happened to have found that essence through music and poetry.
Her homecoming a week before the protests that greeted the removal of oil subsidy on January 1, 2012 had served as an opener for her. She captures her experience vividly: "Being at home in Edo State for one whole week, listening to different people talk about the fuel subsidy made me appreciate what the people here feel and the challenges facing them."
Iyeoka, the third among four children, combines music and poetry, an emerging trend in the creative world, seamlessly like water coursing through its tributaries.
Having performed in various cities in United States of America, United Kingdom, among others, she believes there are still more grounds to conquer.
Her stopover also in Lagos on Tuesday was to introduce her works to Nigerian audience and connect with her roots.
She says, "There is something unique about the culture of the Edo people. It is rich and my mother is doing a good job on me, in teaching me some of our music. These I am taking back to the United States of America.
"Though the people may not understand the language, I will translate it, and once they understand what I am talking about, we take it up from there. I want to elevate my roots and showcase it to the world."
Iyeoka admits she had to quit her six-figure thriving pharmacy job in Boston Medical Centre in January 2010, and she has no cause to regret that action.
She says, almost boasting, "I took that decision when I went on private retreat in Hawaii. It was a product of a deep- thought. I had asked myself: 'Is pharmacy what you want to do all your life?'
"As I returned to the States after that retreat, I resigned and took to music and poetry full time. It has paid my bills."
With four albums in her kitty, viz Black and Blues, Hum The Bass Line, Live at Ktuh Hawaii and Say Yes, she says her parents are great influence on her life.
The 37-year-old singer also pours encomium on one Babatunde Olatunji, who she describes as 'my teacher' for the gift of a drum, which she takes everywhere she goes.
What about marriage? Iyeoka has an answer: " I am not married but I am taken already."
Source: http://urlred.com/HWHnt
