Yakoba

Yakoba first picked up a super-shitty green, warped-ass guitar at 18. Oddly enough, he wrote song lyrics and harmonies long before that memorable purchase. Hence, he has always considered himself more of a lyricist/singer with an educational message to convey; then a virtuoso on guitar. Luckily, he kept the receipt from the warped guitar and was able to purchase "The Traveller" - his Korean Cort Earth 100 acoustic by paying the Niagara dealer an extra 100$ CDN.Coming from a family that is rich in showbiz on his paternal side, Yakoba felt that performing on various stages would be his destiny. Therefore, Yakoba pushed on, by writing more of his own material, relocating around North America, and constantly playing various Open Mic nights; all the while traversing the musician's confidence rollercoaster that he felt totally stuck .. finishing up his History degree, Yakoba found himself itching to leave North America. So, he packed up "The Traveller", his suitcase, and took the first ESL teaching job that he found - in Seoul, Korea, back in 2001. At that point, Yakoba's career took off as a guitar-playing sing-along-strumming kindergarten teacher. However, he longed to break free from kids songs and Beatles covers to find random live venues, where he could perfect his ever-growing amount of original compositions.All the while, so many of Yakoba's experiences that he was going through inspired him to continue songwriting about how he perceived the world - both near, and afar. Eventually, Yakoba's tenure in Korea did pay off as he secured a university ESL teaching job that he would keep for two years. Thanks to all his friends that he had such amazing times with, it was an easy choice for him to stay.During Yakoba's time in Seoul, he became saturated with the foreign music scene, and felt that he had to gain an increased role in it. In January 2004, Yakoba finally decided to record some of his songs on an EP with some close friends, who were also aspiring musicians. Thus they formed The Wandering Souls, (www.myspace.com/TheWanderingSouls), and they came together for merely a day! That wonderful recording experience left Yakoba with a deep urge to keep playing electric tunes and that led to the creation of The Stingrays, (www.myspace.com/TheStingraysmusic) in the fall of 2005. These experiences proved to be some of the best times of Yakoba's life.In the spring of 2006, after the demise of The Stingrays, Yakoba felt that it was time for him to turn the page on that chapter of his life and hit the road with "The Traveller" again.In that summer, Yakoba had 3 months off to hit the road with his backpack and "The Traveller." It turned out to be a wise choice as he played everywhere he went; Finnish music festivals, night buses, city streets at 3AM, dining cars on Swedish trains, riversides, random pubs, parks, hostels, etc. It could be concluded that he played anywhere that tolerated it.Now, after writing around 200 songs, and residing on three continents, Yakoba has realized that his true passion in his life is making music. Here, in Toronto, Yakoba is continuing to disrupt the scene wherever he can - performing at pubs, cafes, restaurants, street corners, parties, parks, etc. With a little luck you just may catch him!