SongVault Artist Profile

Yaya Ouedraogo, 22, musician from African street is singing the message of peace with African traditional music. Yaya, for long time, has not known his age. But he never thinks it really matters. Once he was asked by his friends when his birthday is, and he answered ‘Everyday’. He says that he thanks everyday for that fact that his life is still continuing, and he wants to celebrate for that fact.
He is a survivor: survived through African poverty with his luck and his strong will, When he was in his mother’s womb, his mother used ‘African medicine’ to cease his life, but he survived. When he was born, he was left in the street of Burkina Faso, but his grand mother found out and she took the baby to her home.He survived again.

Even though he was with his grand mother, he had to make his own living. His grand mother has a lot of children to take care as she married with the man who has five other women whose children were sometimes abandoned and were living with Yaya’s grandmother. To survive, Yaya did all kinds of jobs. He sold foods on the street, he did tailoring jobs, and many other jobs that poor African children took part, he did.

His father and his mother sometimes appeared in his life. They came once in a while. Everytime they came, Yaya gave the money to them out of his small income. He never disliked them, he said. What he despised is the poverty that he and his parents had to go through.

He never went to school. He never learned how to read and write. But he learns so many things from his life on the street. He saw how unfair this world is, how selfish people can be, how powerless people are under the power of politics....

He wants to speak to the world about his experience and wishes to be the agent of change with his music, his begotten talent.