Early in the morning, the slender Ayo returns from her walk along the banks of the Seine. “Paris is magnificent, but I couldn’t live here anymore, says the singer, proudly wearing a cap with the “Tahiti” logo, where she currently lives. I need to go surfing every morning. There are people who go to church. My temple is the ocean. » The German singer of Nigerian origin, who launched her career in France in 2006 with the release of the album Cheerful (400,000 copies sold), It had been several years since he had returned to Paris, his adopted city. The last time was at the end of his tour for his album. Real, published in 2020.
The author of the popular petition. On your knees That’s why she found a new passion besides music: surfing. She is so addicted to the waves that she would have liked to participate in the Olympic Games with the Nigerian team. She quickly abandoned the idea. “I couldn’t keep up with the competitions, she admits. To qualify you have to dedicate all your time to surfing and with concerts and music, it was impossible. However, this is still what feeds my children. »
Nor would there have been time to record the remarkable Mommy Wata, His seventh album, released on September 20, finally brings new life to the album. A twelve-song album that he wrote in Tahiti and which he will perform during fifty concerts the day after its release. After the tour, he will return to Papeete. “just before Christmas”, with her daughter Billie-Eve, 14, and son Julius, 7, following her on her globetrotting journey.
The eldest, Nile, 18, chose to live in New York with her father, reggae singer Patrice. She dedicated a song from the album to him, Intimately, where he sings while accompanying himself on the guitar: “I wish I could hold you like I used to. We were traveling the world, I would never have left you alone. As long as you were with me, you would be home.” USA, “a country I’m not a big fan of” She said. There she gave birth to her third child, but her daughter was unable to obtain a visa to join them. In order to be able to find Billie-Eve in Europe, she went to live in Portugal.
“The universe sends us little messages”
The small family settled in a house on the shores of the Atlantic and began to practice surfing intensively, which they had discovered when they were younger in Hossegor, in the Landes. “I surfed every morning and every night, she says, all smiles. During Covid-19 it saved me, it was my therapy, otherwise I would have gone completely crazy. When you are used to being active and suddenly it stops, it is terrible. I was on tour for the release of my previous album, Real, When President Macron announced that the borders would be closed on March 16, 2020, I returned to Portugal, my musicians returned to France. » But over the course of the various lockdowns, pandemic-related restrictions have been tightened, banning all gatherings, even those held outdoors. “With my friends, She remembers, We still went surfing and it turned into a game of hide and seek with the police, who came to take us out of the water in a boat or 4×4 along the beach. »
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