Roots Archives Forum

What can anyone tell me about this duo?

It seems like they had a lot of big name reggae musicians working with them and I believe 2 LPs worth of material.

I have 7" Yahya - Hold Fast - Zam Zam 1983. Ive also seen Bro Yahya - No Fasle Propet Lp from the same year. Those recordings and yaya & think all seem to be from year and/or studio so is it safe to say all three yayas are on in the same person??? Anyways I not a fan of the 7 I have...

hi there
I've just caught a lp from Yaya & Think (his first LP: release time) and made some search on the net and found this(french site)
YAYA,real name YAYA YAOVI AZ, came from Africa (Togo ??) to europe and settle for a moment in France. By the late seventies he made law studies (he wanted to become a lawyer, to defend people rights) then he was involded in reggae music. He made his first LP "RELEASE TIME" on a french label PRYS PRODUCTION in 1980. It said it reach number one in AFRICA and in french West Indies (the sound his near wailers but with an african touch, I rate it 13/20)
Then he made the second LP in Tuff GONG kingston; called STOP THAT TRAIN (I don't know this one)
Then he made a break with music for 7 years and ran a taxi company back in Africa.
In 1997 he made his come back in reggae music with lp "SEEDS" by the name of YAYA YAOVI (I think it's very close to modern dancehall/new roots)
For the "THINK", it's maybe the backing vocal where there was the female singer who lately form the french Zouk band : Kassav'.
That's all I know

i have both but according to me it's not a must

I have both too, weird voice indeed but I like weird reggae .

Btw, he's from Benin.

i think he is from senegal, read something about him sayin' he has crossed the desert to imigrate in france

His myspace indicates Benin, maybe that's why I wrote it in another thread few weeks ago :
http://www.roots-archives.com/forum/rea ... 6151,44081

The myspace profile :
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... D=97354715

I am unable to find another source. I just checked all that I could but nothing about it. I have a press version of Stop that train with a press file presenting him but nothing neither.
On his website, it's written
"Tournée mémorable en Europe et en Afrique, Le Hall des Arts de Cotonou s’en rappelle encore ! On n’avait jamais rien vu de tel dans le pays !" and Cotonou is the main town in Benin so it sounds like they are talking about "the homegrown artist" but I can be wrong.

Added to that, I think that if he were from Senegal, he would be a lot more known in France I guess. Anyway, I'll try to get some information from Senegalese friends in a few days.

Im just hearing the first production and musically is ok.It have also couple of good songs like "rastaman wants".I give it a 6 of 10...

hi there
indeed az yaya is from benin and his first release is "release time"back in 1979,and the second album"stop that train"was recorded in jamaica"and feature aston barrett and the ithree in a song called"do the action" plus some members of the zap pow hors and"think"his backing band.
as for brother yahkya,i think hez is from trinidad and tobbago and has lived in the uk for sometime.he has released"false prophet"an album i have been desperately looking out for more than 15 years now and cannot come across it.but all considered those 2 yaya az lps are not really big stuff even though there is no accounting for taste.i have listened to"stop that train"way back in 1984 and haven't foundit of much interest.but"false prophet"is very worth a try
fadel

Hi to all!

Personally I am definitely a fan of Yaya, and his first album is really one of my preferred Reggae LP's overall (believe it or not)!

I also find the second album really great - even if not as good as the first album IMHO.

Yaya had a Reggae/Ital shop in the 20th district of Paris by the mid-90's (too bad I can' t remember the name :-/) - I went there once but Yaya was absent. That's where I got the 2nd LP from, BTW.

I also bought in his shop his EP called "Lift Up Your Conscience" (1995), announcing the release of his "Seed" CD.

The "Seed" CD was out on the market in 1997 - not a bad album, even far from that, but not really roots in the music, though still in the spirit.

Yaya is undoubtedly from Bénin, as if I remember well he won a country-level price there in 1997~1998 for his album "Seed" ("Best Reggae album of the year", or something like that).

Perhaps he was born in Sénégal, and moved to Bénin during his child days???????

Anyway, I would love to get some news about this guy, as he is for sure an interesting person on the Reggae scene.

Peace - MadC.