
They say music is an unfathomable ocean. If it really is the case, then Yapa is a group of adventurous sailors in pursuit of their destiny, braving the waves of the same mighty ocean. And their destiny is to take the music aficionados along with them for a musical journey every time the strings of their acoustic guitars are tweaked.
Yapa is a four-member acoustic band hailing from France, who enthralled the music lovers in the capital recently as part of their first-ever tour to Asia, titled ‘World Explosive Acoustic Guitars’.
About the band
Yapa comprises three guitarists, Simon Chenet, Fabrice Bourguignat, Christophe Combet and a percussionist Xavier Hamon.
They started out as a young band over 12 years ago. Over the years the bond between them has grown so strong that they are all now one happy family. It is almost impossible for them to part ways or include a new member into their band.
On their music
Yapa has always had its focus on acoustic music. Their band does not even have a keyboard player, which is an essential part of any given rock band. According to Simon, “The band is perfectly balanced with the craziness of the percussionist Xavier complimenting the three guitarists.” The fact that the band does not have a vocalist had raised several eye brows in the initial stages. “We remember very well that it was insisted to rope in a vocalist in order to go on air on local radio in Africa. Then we had to revamp the song we had prepared to incorporate a local singer for the performance.” However, they managed to stun the radio people with their overpowering instruments that they were allowed to perform on their own for a second time.
‘’Music itself is a universal language. It does not always need the help of lyrics superimposed over it to communicate the message,’’ Simon says.
Likes
Like any other young aspiring guitar player, rock n’ roll giants like Guns N Roses and Dire Straits were their idols. Gradually, when time passed by and they matured as musicians, their taste traversed to more soulful music like that of Pink Floyd. But if you ask them who is their favourite musician now, you will be presented a seemingly endless list with almost all the artists they have heard occupying a slot in the list.
They are also influenced by classical rock, French traditional folk music and African traditional music. Above all, the band members are huge fans of Edith Piaf, perhaps the greatest singer France has ever produced.
Indian music
Ask about Indian music and the first name that comes to their mind is that of Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, whose compositions are fairly popular in France and whom they adore. They have also been exposed to considerable amounts of Bollywood music.
The other Indian artists they like are Kailash Kher and Agnee The Band. They have already met and held talks with Agnee to collaborate in near future.
Inspiration
Yapa derives inspiration from anything and everything, including people, nature and even politics. Travelling has been a great source of inspiration for them and many things they came across in their journeys have become inspiration for their songs.
Future
Eventhough it has been over 12 years since they started playing as a band, Yapa considers its real journey has only begun. Because, they turned professionals only a few years back producing two instrumental albums.
Aim
To keep on surprising the audience. ‘’We make sure that no song is played the same in our concerts. Sometimes the audience connects with it and sometimes they don’t. In both the cases we alight from the stage partially happy. Because when an artist is fully happy, his art ceases to grow,’’ wound up Simon.
rejith@expressbuzz.com