To try the analogy, it’s a bit like the rookie player of the Montreal Canadiens who, during his inaugural match in the national league, scores his first career goal. Yamê will have two: on his very first visit to Montreal at the invitation of the Francos, the male revelation of the year at the last Victoires de la Musique ceremony will perform twice rather than once at Club Soda, Saturday and Sunday. “I don’t realize it,” admits the rapper and singer. I asked my turners: “But are you sure? We shouldn’t have empty rooms!” It’s hard to believe until you set foot there. I can’t wait to see everyone and present my songs to them. »
A few hours after our conversation, Yamê will experience another first: a concert in New York, at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. “What does this mean to me? An accomplishment. That tells me that the music I make has already exceeded my expectations. And has overcome the language barrier,” even though he expects the 650-seat room to be mostly filled with French and Cameroonian expatriates, the country of his roots.
Nonetheless, “it’s a big opportunity to meet these people who, from so far away, listen to my music,” believes the musician, who first made a name for himself on the French hip-hop scene with his two Bantu Mixtapes (2020) and his first album, Officer 237 (2021), before branching off towards a soul aesthetic of its own, tinged with R&B, a touch of rap and West African musical colors. “A record store in Rennes told me one day that when he received my CD, he didn’t know which aisle to put it in. That’s what makes the strength of the project: something very rap, all the same, but melodious overall. »
A melodious turn executed to perfection which explains the popular success of his second album, Elowi (“What is not visible”, in Mbo language), published last year. Firstly because he knows how to sing, Yamê: a fair and strong voice that carries. Inspired by that of her dad, Mbacké Sow (aka Mbacké Ngoup’Emanty), Cameroonian pop star, jack of all styles popular in West Africa? “Yes, I imagine, but in reality, I don’t sing at all like my father,” he nuances.
“Having heard my father’s music all my life, having seen him sing on stage, all of that gave me an important experience,” says Yamê. But I wasn’t directly inspired by his voice. In fact, if I think of an inspiration, it would be Papa Wemba,” the late king of Congolese rumba and ndombolo. “His voice – his somewhat rounded timbre – his higher-pitched way of singing, resembles mine, I think. »
Born in the Paris region 31 years ago, Yamê lived as a child for several years in Cameroon, its musical ecosystem having left traces in the musician’s work. “When I lived there, I only listened to these styles that were on the radio, makossa” made popular by the late Manu Dibango, “bikutsi, ndombolo, the styles that work in West Africa. On the other hand, today I am not trying to be the standard bearer of his styles, but it is true that it is felt that I have been very influenced and that several of my sounds carry these colors”, making enter Yamê into the large family of artists grouped under the umbrella of Afrobeats who are taking the charts around the world by storm.
So, he knows how to sing, Yamê, but there is also the way: somewhere between rap, R&B and afrobeats, the young musician has forged an already strong identity, strengthened by his pen. As evidenced by the enthusiasm for his song Bike, whose clip (superb, filmed in Douala, Cameroon’s largest metropolis) has been watched 14 million times over the last four months. He sings with this voice that carries, this confidence, this confidence, to “succeed in putting more emotion into the melody. What I like to say is that my first message is the melody and the emotion it conveys. Because the melody is an easier message to understand, that’s why, I believe, Bike was unanimous. It wouldn’t even need words for the audience to understand the emotion.”
And the message behind: “On Bike, I’m talking about freedom, about escaping from a world that would be hell,” he sums up. “We can read a political message there, which was actually my wish. But what is most important is the emotion, this slightly melancholy chorus which touched the audience, at the base. Afterwards, in the second reading, we find a message, which resonates with him in the political chaos in which France, his country, is currently immersed since the European elections.
Is the rise of the extreme right in France, its hostile discourse against immigration, of which he, one of the rising stars of French pop, is the fruit, a source of inspiration for the songs of this third album that Yamê is already working on? “Well, that’s clear,” he replies, a hint of discouragement in his voice.
“What we experience on a daily basis, the artist tries to translate [dans son travail]. It’s clear that I’m worried about what’s happening in our country. […] Me, on the other hand, I don’t want my music to be militant; If I want to make something happen, I’ll find another way to do it. What interests me in music are emotions, in which you can also hear a political message. Music serves to bring us together in the face of the turpitudes of life… But it’s clear that I will have a word” on what is happening in France on the next album.