An In-depth Review Of Awu’s Yayayo Video Like Never Before

By Nkiacha Atemnkeng

Though he has been surfing on the wave of his hit, “Yayayo” for quite a couple of months, the initial video of the song wasn’t as hard-hitting. That is probably the reason why that video was cancelled, and his label dropped new visuals for the song in early September 2019, brilliantly shot and directed by Geraldrico Guevara.

The Dijay Karl produced song which is sung in French, English and Pidgin is slow and suave with a very infectious hook. Awu delivers strong vocals in his unique barritone voice and samples Donny Elwood’s, “Mon frère est en haut“. The track’s lyrics are average – nothing overtly poetic or spectacular. The mid-tempo beat seems simple, with two lead guitars, a drumbeat, a few other effects and a “Hey” chant in the background.

However, it is the song’s acoustic riffs that catch the ear and make it phenomenal. The twin guitar sounds impart a magical mood; the first, stringy and Zairean in its feel, as if plucked straight from a Franco Luambo Makiadi song. The second, brisk and twinkly, fretting frenetically all over the place in confidence. The sultry guitar notes compliment the artist’s voice, as he sings how he made it to the top without having anybody at the top.

He sings about how he is loved, how he is well received, how he is welcome everywhere he goes and how for every country way yi go, them di soso give yi yayayo – a Cameroonian Pidgin English word which literally translates as “welcome”. Better still, yayayo signifies the welcome hug children give their parents or elderly loved ones when they meet them again after a long period of absence.

The video itself is an optical feast straight out of and reminiscent of a late eighties/early nineties era. It projects Awu, his buddies and ladies in old-fashioned gear, grooving and living it up in an archaic Peugeot 504 on the streets of Douala, in a place which seems to be around the old buildings in Akwa. They move into a vintage bar where people down bottles of beer and others play those now forgotten video games in vending machine-sized boxes placed in small public rooms and managed by katikas.

The partygoers unleash slow Soukous like moves, ladies teasing, and they all flaunt a repertoire of impressive old-school fashion.They don those unmistakable jackets (Kawear), Wrangler Jeans, baggy Jeans skirts, long pairs of socks, FILA snickers, tallons, giant Kiwi polished shoes, Kangol caps, Panama hats, baggy suits, Apagas, suspenders (pinafour), weird necklaces and stylish sunglasses.

It makes the well-shot video by Geraldrico Guevara a rare and colourful celebration of old, raining down in me memories of my parents’ pictures of that era. It is still a wonder how Brice Toukam (Brisse Style) pulled off that costume feat for the video. Also, Geraldrico sometimes alternates the mostly coloured images with black and white ones to deepen the eighties feel of the song – not to forget the two funny men jogging near the Peugeot 504 with rolled-up trousers who add a Miché Kang Kang like twist to their clothing for comic effect.

The director really gets the video concept right, but sometimes the visuals feel like too much of an exhibition of the eighties swagger and fashion, rather than a projection of plot. Overall, the video of “Yayayo” dey tchak and it delivers in its attempt to blend the priceless imagery of a bygone era with a contemporary song that has got an eighties oomph.

Watch Yayayo Music Video:

About The Author:

Nkiacha Atemnkeng is a Cameroonian writer and music journalist. His work has been published in The Africa Report, Culture Trip, Bakwa, Saraba and Gyara Magazine. He is a Goethe Institut/Sylt Foundation writing residency fellow. Find him on Twitter: @nkiacha