Singer Joy Ike returns to Gobin Wednesday with folk, rock, pop blend

Monday, July 16, 2018
Joy Ike performing in the 2017 Greencastle Summer Music Festival.
Courtesy photo

Nigerian-American singer/songwriter Joy Ike returns to the Greencastle Summer Music Festival with a 7:30 p.m. concert Wednesday in Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church in Greencastle, featuring music from her new album.

About the album, “Bigger Than Your Box,” Ike says, “These songs are like a piece of newspaper in a stack of wood, starting the flame that makes the whole thing burn. I want my music to give folks their second wind. I want them to rumble and inspire, shed apathy and pump life back into lifeless situations.”

There’s no admission charge for Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. performance in the air-conditioned comfort of the Gobin sanctuary. Ike’s performance has been underwritten by local author Stu Fabe and Serendipity Yoga Studio owner Marla Helton as a gift to the community.

The festival, dedicated to “bringing the community together with friends making music for friends,” is funded by donations from individuals, an endowment at the Putnam County Community Foundation, and local businesses including the Inn at DePauw.

Gobin Church, at 307 Simpson St., is located on the southwest corner of Seminary and Locust streets in Greencastle.

According to Pop Matters, the album is a “brilliant blend of folk, rock and pop sounds that culminates around the reminder that hope is always with us.” Sojourners writes, “2018 feels unstoppable in its forward movement. Infused with bold rhythms, Joy Ike’s latest album, ‘Bigger Than Your Box,’ could easily serve as the soundtrack of this march.”

Festival Executive Director Chris Flegal is excited for the return of Ike to the summer festival.

“Joy is such a great songwriter, entertainer, musician and friend,” he said. “She is one of the engaging working artists I know. Her dedication to her fans and music is unparalleled.”

Ike began playing music in earnest while in college, gravitating to piano as a tool to aid her greatest passion -- songwriting.

“I believe good music is simply poetry with a soundtrack,” she says.

Out of college she worked her hometown scene in Pittsburgh at night while working for a book publish firm during the day. The untimely 2008 passing of her brother caused a sudden shift in perspective.

“For the first time, I truly felt the brevity and uncertainty of life,” Ike said. “I left my job one week after he died.”

Rushing headfirst into uncertainty shaped her 2008 debut LP, “Good Morning,” which explored themes of starting fresh and beginning again. Five years of striving toward her dream of making it as an artist lead to 2013’s “All or Nothing.” Through those years Ike garnered praise from the likes of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” who called her “a voice and talent beyond her years,” and SoulBounce which described her music as “a sensational slice of urgent piano-soul.”

Drawn to both down-tempo folk and indie rock as well as mainstream pop, Ike writes from a place of purity, following her muse to create art that speaks from the soul.

“I always knew I had to create something that felt real,” says Ike, “not conjured to cater to one specific audience. If I could count the number of times people have asked me if I’m a jazz, gospel or R&B singer … I’ve spent most of the last 12 years being told to ‘sound more black.’ What does that even mean?”

While her music might be incredibly soulful and rhythmic, it has always resonated more within the folk world, and for that Ike makes no apologies.

The Summer Music Festival will continue Wednesday, July 25 with DePauw University Director of Jazz Studies Steven Snyder and friends.

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