FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE

National Performance Network and NCCC Grant Funds Boston Poet, Iyeoka to Speak the Word in Hawaii

Zap Mama Returns to Boston to headline at the Paradise Rock Club Saturday 28th, 2008

IYEOKA and The ROCK by Funk TRIBE opens for ZAP MAMA

SATURDAY June 28th 2008
THE PARADISE ROCK CLUB
Doors:8pm
18+
$22


click the title for tix purchase.

Find me Here.

We embrace the idea that if you stand somewhere long enough someone will find you, if you say something loud enough someone will hear you, if you desire a moment strong enough the universe will gratefully grant it to you. Find me here and I will speak with you of the word that speaks through me. -Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo

 

May 30th @ The Milky Way

 

Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo, The Cloud Foundation and Opera Boston are teaming up to create an opera workshop for teens based on music from the opera Carmen

Iyeoka joins Grammy Award celebrities to sing Bono and U2 songs to raise money for The Global Fund

U2 Compilation In The Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2 ignites major ripples in a Nigerian girl

IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE
3/14/08

Iyeoka is a Nigerian Girl with an African violet in her hair.
She wants to go back home.
Mother calls her from a Nokia cell phone in Benin City every Tuesday.
Mama says, “we miss you baby girl, when will you visit us again?”

“I’ll be home soon mommy, first I need to get to the Notable Productions studio and record this U2 “Desire” song for the Africa Celebrates U2 compilation.”

Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo states that she has always had a simple goal to somehow change the
world one poem at a time. Little did she know she would be granted the opportunity of a lifetime to contribute to a track on an unprecedented release of Shout! Factory’s newest project "In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2". On April 1, 2008, Shout Factory is slated to unveil an album celebrating the music, culture and future of Africa, paying homage to Bono and U2 for their ongoing humanitarian relief efforts aiding her beloved continent.

“It is such an incredible honor to be included in an album with my fellow countrymen Tony Allen and Keziah Jones. I have followed Keziah’s work for some time now and my father is a long time fan of Tony Allen since the days he played with Fela. So to now be associated publicly with artists I have looked up to like Angelique Kidjo and legendary Vusi Mahlasela…even to see my name and picture in the same album booklet is a surreal experience.”

Iyeoka lends her talents to a song with the African Underground All-Stars featuring Optimus from The Foundation Movement and Sierra Leone rapper, Chosan in this song called Desire. The album will be released April 1, 2008 on Sony BMG.

"Desire" is the lead single from U2's 1988 album, Rattle and Hum. It was their first #1 single in the UK.

Africa Celebrates U2/ In The Name of Love

Check out Iyeoka's performance with the African Underground All-Stars delivering a fresh hip-hop cover of U2's "Desire". The album which features covers from both Grammy Award Winning African artists and up and coming artists includes U2 covers from Angelique Kidjo, Les Nubians, and Keziah Jones.

http://www.africacelebratesu2.com/

if i didnt know better than i would have to believe...

 

www.iyeoka.com

http://www.myspace.com/iyeoka

---

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.

FESTIVALS, CONFERENCES, PROMOTERS, COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES-Booking /Press Inquiries

Iyeoka is currently available for booking in 2008.
contact: Phanai Entertainment
bookingiyeoka@gmail.com

Catch Iyeoka on Television PBS (WGBH)!!!

Watch Iyeoka as the poetry expert on:
Episode 216 of FETCH! With Ruff Ruffman
Episode Titled:
"How to Get Dogs and Doggerel in Better Shape"

Iyeoka coaches the cast member how to write poetry.

Original Air Date 6/21/07
The Episode will air again on Monday 10/8/07 at 12:00pm (noon)
(channel 217 WGBXDT4)

photo by Michael Perez 2007

a BOSTON GLOBE mention on "QUICK PICKS"

QUICK PICKS

By Nick A. Zaino III


Monday nights through Oct. 1, the Paradise Lounge is the place to catch local soul, funk, and hip-hop with the Soul Power Tour '07. You could squabble and say it's not really a tour, but it does show off some under-appreciated talent from the local scene. Tonight at 7, it's Iyeoka Okoawo, whose inspiring, lyrical grooves bring to mind Lauryn Hill; R&B singer/songwriter Rob Murat from New York, who could play her ; and local blues drummer/vocalist Short'y Billups. You can also hear Okoawo on "Next On the Mic," a new collection from the Poetry Jam Collective and Rounder Records. 18+. Tickets: $8. Paradise Lounge, 969 Commonwealth Ave., 617-562-8800. thedise.com

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Check out Iyeoka featured on the MUSIC page of GALRILLA Webzine!!!

MORE PRESS for ya...Check out Iyeoka's INTERVIEW on AFRICAN PATH!!!

Congratulations to IYEOKA...

For winning 2007 SPOKEN-WORD ARTIST OF THE YEAR for the Mass Industry Committee Hip-Hop AWARDS
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gET IT wHiLE IT's HOT!

"Next on the Mic" is one of 2 major record label compilations Iyeoka will be a part of in 2007.
This compilation will be released under Rounder Records August 28th.

Iyeoka is now a NEST eligible artist!

Are you looking to invite Iyeoka to perform her empowering poetry at your event or cultural program? Iyeoka has now made it easy for you to obtain funding if you are located outside of Massachusetts. Read on...

New England States Touring (NEST) is a cooperative program with the state arts agencies of New England, that provides support to nonprofits for performances, readings, and related community activities by artists that have met the eligibility criteria for the NEST program.

*A "presenter" may be any nonprofit organization interested in bringing cultural arts programming to its community. Libraries, schools, theatres, service agencies, & arts organizations are all examples of eligible nonprofit “presenters” that can apply for NEST funding.

Grant Guidelines

NEST grants are available in amounts up to 50% of the artists' fees. The total fee may include travel, accommodations and per diem. Minimum grants are $200 and applications with requests below that amount will not be accepted.

For more on NEST go to: MORE INFO ON NEST GRANTS

Current mood: Heavy.

Due to a relationship pushing a barrier of stuff that drives sadness and rust---

The deep descent of doubt that disintegrates

YEARS of building friendship and foundation together

These are the rough patches I never asked for.

Note to self:

One of the top 10 worst ways to hurt a friend is when the moment resembles an accidental rainstorm. The neglect is unintentional yet demandingly powerful.

The abandon becomes a reoccurring wave of lifting one choice over another.

Nurturing one garden as another grows dry and weak, heavy with weeds.

I want to feel light again.

I need my approaching celebration of a new birthday to be about what God sends.

Be about what that day needs to be reserved for. What love represents…

The thank you’s for another year.

The thank God I’m still here.

The people I find a way to make time for.

The--- I know my life is full of something and today is the most important reason to open that door and remember it…to fight for it!

Today is the most important day to live for it. It’s ok to do it in silent meditation. It’s ok to bring it in with a thousand of your closest friends. It’s ok to bring it in with your mom and dad on the telephone, no matter how far they are across the Atlantic Ocean.

I need 32 to be about where I am 10 years after 22.

Where I want to be 10 years past 42

The numbers will never appropriately serve you.

Your age should never be allowed to define you.

Because dreams are limitless...

There is not enough time and not enough room to linger on the moments in the desert that quietly breaks the heart that is built to remind you how to get lifted.

And I want to feel light again.

Light with friends that feel you’re worth it every single time.

So light they can see through the tears in your eyes that may never physically ever materialize.

I want to feel light again.

The kind of light you feel when the sun is shining on you for no apparent reason.

The kind of light you feel when everyone around you loves you for a reason.

The kind of light you need when the heavy finds you caught off guard and restless to survive the break into the dawn of a new season.

Top Boston Poet

Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo is amongst the Top Poets in Boston and the Nation for that matter. Nominated for her 2nd New England Urban Music Award for Best Spoken Word Female, Iyeoka was recently asked to be involved in a upcoming Global Hip-Hop music compilation project produced by Notable Productions president and producer Daniel Cantor.

The project is a high contender to be used in the next instillation of the Red Hot + Riot, a series of music compilation projects from the Red Hot Organization to be used as a fund-raising tool for AIDS awareness efforts.

A previous project from the Red Hot Organization was Red Hot + Riot: The Music and Spirit of Fela Kuti) The album, which takes inspiration from the late Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, was released by MCA on October 15, 2002 and featured more than three dozen artists on a score of tracks.

Iyeoka's Hit Songs now on rotation at BOSTON'S TOUCH 106.1

TOUCH 106.1 IS NOW ACCESSIBLE NATIONWIDE through online streaming!
Call in to request Iyeoka's new songs "This Is Life" ft. The Foundation Movement , "If They Only Knew", or "Shine This Way" ft. Afro DZak on the radio. Listeners can contact the station by visiting www.touchfm.org or by emailing to touchfm@yahoo.com

Access IYEOKA IVE OKOAWO'S ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT here

2007 Hawaii Tour

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Hi Family!

If ur in the HAWAII area or have any friends and/or family that will be in or around honolulu this week please come out and spend some time with me at any one of my shows. I will be releasing a LIMITED EDITION prelude CD to Hum the Bass Line. This will only be available at these shows. This album will include "This is Life", "If they Only Knew", a live recording of "Blink of an Eye" with the Jeff Robinson Trio and new songs and poems. It will also feature 4 NEW poems from my brother Omoizele "Oz" Okoawo who as you all will discover or probably already know, is a better poet than I am...and I'm pretty darn good...so...yeah...

Anyway...thanks in ADVANCE for ALL YOUR SUPPORT!
LOVE HUGS AND more POEMS...more poems...MORE POEMS!!!

Iyeoka

01/31/2007
Midnight-ish - Radio show at KTUH with dj Bones.
(www.ktuh.org)
HONOLULU, Hawaii

Description: radio show at ktuh (www.ktuh.org) on Wednesday nite after midnite with dj Bones. TUNE IN... ALSO AVAILABLE ONLINE

02/01/2007
08:30 PM - Hawaiian Hut (SPECIAL APPEARANCE)
410 Atkinson Drive
Honolulu, 96801
US
Cost: $3

Description: February, 1 2007 at Hawaiian Hut - HawaiiSlam's First Thursdays 410 Atkinson Drive (ground level in the Ala Moana Hotel), Honolulu, 96801 Cost : $3 before 8:30, $5 after First Thursdays is the largest poetry slam in the world (with 650+ in attendance). Each month, the event offers $100 in cash prizes to the winner,info@HawaiiSlam.com

02/02/2007
09:00 PM - Ong King Arts Center
184 N. King street (near River st) Chinatown
HONOLULU, Hawaii
US
Cost: $10
Description: Event: First Friday at Ong King Arts Center Time and Place: Ong King Arts Center, 184 N. King St., Friday, February 2nd, 5pm-2am (art gallery opening 5pm-9pm, performance by Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo and the Quadraphonix 9pm-2am) Cost: 10$ (art opening free) Who Can Attend: All Ages! More Info: www.ongking.com see@ongking.com

02/03/2007
8:00 PM - Jazz Minds Arts and Cafe
1667 Kapiolani Blvd.
Honolulu, Hawaii 96815
US
Cost: $5
Description: Tempo Valley and Iyeoka jam it out at Jazz Minds