Jayzik Azikiwe - Simple Poet with unlimited imagination
By Mikey Massive
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 BRITAIN’S
independent music scene lost one of its most colourful characters last month
with the passing of Jayzik Azikiwe. Ironically, Jayzik similarly succumbed to
pneumonia in The Gambia following a short illness, on the same day as the
popular British impresario Jeremy Beadle.
Jayzik was the English-born daughter of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe (1804-1996), the
Nigerian Garveyite who mentored Kwame Nkrumah (first President of independent
Ghana from 1957-1966) before himself becoming the first President of newly
independent Nigeria (1963-66); Dr Azikiwe’s name is immortalised by federal
capital Abuja’s international airport and his features adorn the N500 currency
note.
Despite the veneration enjoyed by Comrade Zik, Jayzik’s English mother elected
to live in London and raise Jayzik and hosts of adopted children and other young
relatives as a single parent. However, despite enjoying the benefits of a loving
home environment, Jayzik’s rebel soul put her on collision course with education
authority representatives and she ran away, becoming homeless for her closing
teenage years. Characteristically, her homelessness became a tool for extending
her education and political activism; she regularly attended marches and
demonstrations which provided the teeth for the anti-police stop-and-search (sus)
and protest against escalating deaths in police custody campaigns during
the1980s-1990s. She also continued comforting and encouraging her homeless
peers.
However, whilst most formerly homeless folk might seek employment in relatively
anonymous industries, Jayzik clawed a niche for herself in entertainment.
Initially, she assisted her adoptive sister, London-based lover’s rock
songstress Sylvia Tella, before branching out, seemingly, in as many directions
as humanly possible. Her modelling career peaked with her appearances in Soul II
Soul’s promo videos for the international million-sellers Keep On Moving and
Back To Life during the late 1980s and she aligned herself with the Sista /
Akabu all-woman reggae music collective as a backing singer / percussionist; she
also assisted Nicky Ezer, still London’s foremost female reggae concert
promoter, before eventually branching out as competition and launching herself
as a performer, Jayzik – The Simple Poet.
One of her early champions was Levi Roots, the singer-songwriter latterly
distinguished as the entrepreneur behind Reggae Reggae Sauce. Levi negotiated
studio time which allowed Jayzik to record some of her early songs and provided
support spots on his own showcase performances. For her part, she continually
badgered him to forge ahead with the marketing of his Reggae Reggae Sauce.
Jayzik’s poetry became more accomplished and she blossomed into an engaging and
spirited stage performer. She founded the New Whirled Voysis collective and
formed alliances with Patrick Augustus, author of the popular BabyFather novel
series and steelpan musician / producer, to host and promote events which
simultaneously showcased young talent and increased awareness of her unique
reggae poetry. Augustus eventually co-published an anthology of her writings and
introduced her to Neil ‘Mad Profesor’ Frazier, the groundbreaking reggae auteur
at the heart of the Ariwa label and organisation. The Prof contracted Jayzik for
her first international tours as a solo performer; as the Mad Professor has
become, arguably, the most widely travelled Black British musician over the past
decade this allowed Jayzik to introduce her verse / songs and her irreverent and
confident mc (mistress of ceremonies) proclivities to audiences across North
America, Europe, South America and the Middle East. Her popularity encouraged
Prof and Augustus to join forces as the co-producers of her debut solo album,
Problem Child, in 2003.
 Problem Child provides a tour-de-force of originality and craft but it’s
heightened musicality and erudite subject matter (songs berating social services
and predicting the impending collapse of international finance institutions)
couldn’t secure airplay on playlists saturated with the moribund output of
modern day dancehall. Simple Poet she might have been but her level of debate
was far too cerebral and way ahead of time for the urban tastemakers of her
native England. Nevertheless, Problem Child has continued selling consistently
in the US, Japan and Europe.
Meantime, Jayzik experienced an epiphany during an engagement in The Gambia,
West Africa. An opportunity to distribute clothes eventually led to her becoming
a manufacturer. Following the birth of her London-born twins she formed a
collective which purchased a compound and other small plots of land and
established New Whirled Voysis in The Gambia in pursuit of Comrade Zik’s Garvey-esque
espousal of non-exploitative entrepreneurs contributing to the development of
21st Century Africa.
‘The move was the defining moment of her destiny, the action which proved her to
be a true pan-Africanist as we understand it,’ commented The Prof, shortly
before he flew out to The Gambia for her funeral (Saturday, February 9 2008).
The fashion line allowed Jayzik to patron the Princess Diana School in Kololi.
She paid for the upkeep of the building and paid the teachers’ salaries,
thereby, allowing local folk to send their children to school free-of-charge.
‘Hugh Mesekela (anti-apartheid activist and award-garnering musician) had a
eureka moment which led to the melody an chorus for Free Nelson Mandela during a
party at her home,’ commented Patrick Augustus. ‘She carried an aura that many
people claimed they found inspiring,’ he added.
Despite her mammoth work ethic, customary humility and saint-like generosity,
Jayzik could diva with archetypal English upper class eccentricity. She famously
refused to ever queue at port of entry immigration points. ‘There were a couple
of occasions where fellow passengers or officials challenged her but she always
charmed her way to the front,’ commented Prof. Jayzik also possessed phenomenal
athletic prowess, her eldest daughter, Jolene, was an accomplished sprinter and
Jayzik herself was tutored in boxing by a homeless pugilist she shared hard
times with. During a trip to Israel in 2001 she was ensconced in a luxury hotel
where the English patrons complained they could never obtain a poolside lounger
as German guests dominated the desired location by fair means and foul. Early
riser Jayzik secured a lounger and marked her territory with her personal
effects while she repaired to her room for an additional item; she returned in
time to see the largest and most aggressive German placing her belongings on the
floor and spreading his towel on the lounger, she threw off his towel and he
threw her possessions into the pool and stood to his full six foot plus height
and motioned to push his diminutive opponent. Jayzik (in dreadlocked-Bruce Lee
mode) avoided the trajectory of her assailant’s intended blow, moved inside his
guard and delivered a dynamite uppercut on the bully’s chin. He crashed to
ground and immediately retrieved her belongings from the pool, compensating her
for the items destroyed by water damage.
Lately, Jayzik recently opened a restaurant in The Gambia, as a precursor to her
ultimate objective of running a luxury hotel chain.
Jayzik Azikiwe (May 12 1958-January 31 2008) is survived by her mother and her
four children – Jolene, Iziah, Nubianna and Nunique.
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