Musician Spotlight
Yapa, Baba Commandant
France / Mali
Yapa is a French indie band formed by four friends—three guitarists (Fabrice Bourguignat, Simon Chenet, and Christophe Combet) and a percussionist (Xavier Hamon)—who simply enjoy the pleasure and freedom of playing instrumental melodies. Yapa embraces collaboration with other artists, firmly believing that they can share their melodies without compromising their unique identity. They are greatly influenced by classical rock, African traditional music, and French traditional folk music, and are huge fans of Edith Piaf and her unique vocal sound. Yapa’s music has always been intended to accompany the travels of their audience members, and they firmly believe that their own experiences on the road are the most effective way to invite listeners to join them on this musical journey.
For the song “M’mory”, Yapa collaborated with Burkinabe singer and songwriter Baba Commandant, who decries the racism and discrimination Africans are often forced to confront. “They say we are harmful to society / They say I'm incapable of intelligence / They say I can't reason.”