Nigerian US based singer Myoa tells the story thus far of her Beautiful Journey with Music in this interview with Pulse Nigeria.
Coined from the beautiful Yoruba name ‘Mayowa’ (meaning “Bring forth the Joy”) Myoa oozes passion, drive and voice for the music craft and art. She wittily describes her sound as “SoPoJa” an acronym she derived from “Soul Pop Jazz” which embodies the type of music.
The ‘Alternative’ singer recounts the music starting for her at a tender age, back in her early days in the school choir, where she got talking to her music teacher about her first ever song she wrote and how her teacher was like “This is great”, encouraging her to keep at it which she did, going on to compose songs together with her sisters.
The Beautiful Journey (which would go on to be the title of her debut album) sees her leave an unfulfilling career as an accountant in 2007 out there in the UK to pursue the very glamorous but demanding world of music, a plunge her heart rightly took after seeking God’s counsel and being what she found came natural to her, more like second nature.
Myoa went on to study vocal performance and production at a musician institute in California. USA, to hone her skills as a performing artist and producer and would go on to form her own band in 2008. She also had a brief stint of music exposure and learning at the London School of Contemporary Music, prior to the USA music schooling, but hadn’t made the decision yet to take the music with all seriousness.
On her first live gig at a neighbouring café close to the musician institute in the US, Myoa summoned up courage to go ask the lady in charge for a chance to go up stage with her five-piece band and perform to the audience she felt were the perfect fit for her type of music, describing the vibe and ambience of the place as just right.
The lady went on to oblige her and that how was she got to perform for the first time officially as a professional singer she was grooming herself to be together with her band to a not too large audience, describing it as a nerve wracking experience but one she executed satisfactorily in her opinion and was glad for the opportunity.
Myoa describes herself as an expressionist, a writer and a performer. Though she talks about slight nervousness initially when she gets on stage, which is probably common to most performers in their early years, she says when she grabs the mic, she just lets it out and gets in the zone.
On getting in the right frame to write down songs, Myoa tells Pulse that the melody usually comes first before the lyrics, narrating how she wrote a song in one hour after a late night stay-up.
“ I use the piano to write my songs, I realise that I hear like a melody before the lyrics come, the melody gives me that feeling that makes me think about what I wanna write, but sometimes I have a thing in my head, and I wanna write through that and usually when I write I want to write with other people,” she explained.
She talks about getting exposure for her music in Nigeria, and the opportunities that have availed her so far such as the “Pushing Good Music” (PGM) sessions run by a music lover and Lagos-based radio on-air personality Douglas Jekan, where she happened to be the first headliner. Myoa showed enthusiastically talks about wanting and seeking out for more avenues like the PGM platform to showcase her talent.
Myoa worked with Cobhams Asuquo, the genius music producer on five tracks off the coming album. Narrating the experience of working with Cobhams, she talks about how her ever supportive mum made her way to Cobhams’ studio to ask to see him and how the producer saw Myoa’s energy right through her mother and happily agreed to work with her.
On the album title choice, Myoa sweetly explains “The reason why I chose that is because in life you go through ups and downs and at the end of the day it’s my journey and it’s beautiful to me…”
Myoa performed at the SXSW 2017, Austin, Texas, USA, and at the Super bowl event, excitingly narrating how she got invited to perform by Pepsi Co. just because they found her music ‘Can a stranger’ as fascinating, and even as they were out looking for a local resident musician in Houston, Texas USA where the popular football event was holding.
“I feel like when your music is great and does what it’s supposed to do, people will find you, it becomes less of a challenge and that’s what I want for Nigeria, I want my music to make impact.”
Myoa who is not signed to a label talks about the advantage of being independent, saying it gives creative control and freedom, and she’s doing just fine with her management and publicist.
FromPulseng
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