Singer, sportsman, team captain, father… Yannick Noah had a full life. But for a little over a year, the 61-year-old artist has made a 360° turn by returning to his land in Cameroon in the village of Etoudi where he grew up and learned to kick the ball. This carefully considered decision takes him away from his family, his five children and the grandchildren who arrived later. But paradoxically, it is partly for them that he chose to settle in Africa. In Yaoundé, Yannick Noah became village chief.
This status is that held by his father Zacharie Noah until his death in 2017. Yannick Noah therefore wanted to pay tribute to him by taking over the reins: “Dad preserved this place, he sacrificed a good part of his life to preserve this place which is where the whole family has lived and grown up for several generations. Dad was the last one, he was the one who saved this place!” he confided moved to Anne-Elisabeth Lemoine in C to you this Friday, May 13.
Zacharie Noah hoped that Yannick would quickly become a chef: “He dreamed that his eldest son would not stay abroad too long and return.“Despite the many trips back and forth to spend holidays there, it was only recently that Yannick Noah had an illumination:”This year, I felt like a call, an obvious desire to go back to where I grew up and to spend a lot of time there, to improve this place, to make it a magical place but above all to respect the memory of my parents who gave so much for this place.“
This new life is also for “the generations to come“, including his five children and his two grandchildren that he kissed her: “Time passes, of course. We try to prepare the future for (…) my children but also my grandchildren. I want to see them walking around here, in this place. For me, I would have done my part of the job.” Leia, the daughter of Joakim Noah and Nohea Zulu, son of Yelena, will be delighted with this gift from their grandfather, Destination Ailleurs.