K-pop

Soul Diva Ayo Sings Your Troubles Away

By Chung Ah-young Staff Reporter At first glance, Ayo, which means ``joy’’ in Yoruba, is an attractive woman of mixed-race, with delicate facial features and a slender body, the type one might associate with a fashion model. But judging from her radiant, joyful music, she is an outstanding musician offering her own unique music styles ranging from Afro-beats to folk to reggae. Debuting last year with her first album, ``Joyful,’’ the 27-year-old rising star held her first Seoul showcase at the KT Art Hall in central Seoul Wednesday. She arrived on Sunday and will leave today after a four-day promotional tour. To fully understand her music, one has to take cognizance of her somewhat tumultuous life, marked by much suffering and trauma during her childhood years. When she was a child, her mother turned to drugs and she lived with her father. But she sees these harsh experiences as shaping her life and enabling her to play her music, providing her with the philosophy that music is the power that enables her to overcome all her troubles. ``Actually, when I was a child,