The late-blooming singer and musician Gnonnas Pedro achieved world-wide fame when he joined the African salsa supergroup Africando in 1996. But he had been well known in his hometown of Cotonou, Benin, since becoming active on the music scene there in the early 1960s.
He has been described as a jack-of-all-trades for his many talents, which included playing trumpet and sax, singing and dancing. He also tailored his style to the vagaries of fashion in a country which has never produced much of a distinctive musical culture due to the overbearing influence of its neighbours.
But it was his early and abiding penchant for Latin sounds which eventually brought him wider recognition in the twilight of his career. Having recorded a single with the French crooner Charles Aznavour in 1964, Pedro spent the Sixties leading his group Pedro y Sus Panchos. They exploited the vogue for Latin music in West Africa at the time, combining it with folklore from the Fon and Yoruba peoples in styles such as agbadja.
Pedro enjoyed popularity in Nigeria during the 1970s with Yoruba highlife hits such as "Feso Jaiye" with his band Orchestra Poly-Rythmo. The following decade his band were known as Ses Dadjes. He recorded prolifically for various labels in Benin, Ivory Coast and Nigeria, and in 1984 began a professional relationship with the influential Senegalese producer Ibrahim Sylla. The following year their single "Les Femmes d'Abord" took much of West Africa by storm.
In 1993, Sylla masterminded the formation of Africando, combining three Senegalese vocalists and the cream of New York's Latin music scene, and sparking off an international craze for African salsa. Sylla asked Pedro to join the group in 1996, a year after the death of their singer Pape Seck. Over their next four albums Pedro was a featured vocalist on songs such as "Dagamasi", "Musica en Vérité", "Dacefo" and "Hwomevonon" - often revived from his earlier career.
Africando toured Europe, the United States and parts of Africa, with Pedro making his UK début at the Equinox Ballroom in London in 1997, where he impressed with his lively dancing, effervescent grin and irrepressible cries of "Yee-hooo!" at the ends of songs. The singer Sekouba "Bambino" Diabaté, who also guested on Africando's albums, recalls Pedro's contribution thus: "He liked his work a lot and really enjoyed giving pleasure to his fans as well. And he was very lively onstage, a real natural entertainer."
Yiri Yiri Boum
Gnonnas Pedro Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Yiri yiri bon
Yiri yiri bon
Yiri yiri bon
Yiri yiri bon
Yiri yiri bon
Yiri yiri bon
Yiri yiri bon
Yimboro yimboro
Me gusta muchachos la rumba
Me gusta muchachos la conga
Bailar al compas del tambor
Tocados por manos De negros cubanos Que hayan jurado tocar su tambor
Yiribon yiribon
Yiribon yiribon
Yiribon yiribon
Yiribon yiribon
Yiribon yiribon
Yiribon yiribon
Yiribon yiribon
Yimboro yimboro
En cuba se corta la cana En cuba se
Toma el café En cuba se baila bembé
Se fuma tabaco Se toma guarapo
Detras de la comparsa Se va echando un pie
Yiri yiri bon Yimboro yimboro yimboroo
The lyrics to Gnonnas Pédro's "Yiri Yiri Boum" are about the joy of dancing and music, particularly the rhythm of the tambor as played by Cuban drummers. The repetition of "Yiri Yiri Bon" and "Yimboro Yimboro" throughout the song creates a catchy, infectious beat that is meant to inspire movement and dancing. The lines "Me gusta muchachos la rumba / Me gusta muchachos la conga" express a love for Latin American and Caribbean music and dance, and the desire to move to the rhythm of the drums. The song also touches on other aspects of Cuban culture, such as the harvesting of sugarcane, drinking coffee and guarapo (sugarcane juice), smoking tobacco, and dancing the bembé.
Overall, the song is a celebration of the joy and energy of music and dance, particularly in the context of Cuban and African diasporic culture. The repetitive lyrics and driving rhythm are meant to inspire movement and dancing, and the lyrical references to Cuban culture add an additional layer of depth and meaning to the song.
Line by Line Meaning
Yiri yiri bon
Repetition of phrase used to create a catchy and energetic rhythm.
Yimboro yimboro
Another repetition of a phrase to add to the musicality of the song.
Me gusta muchachos la rumba
I love the rumba dancers, especially the young ones.
Me gusta muchachos la conga
I love the conga dancers, especially the young ones.
Bailar al compas del tambor
Dancing to the beat of the drum.
Tocados por manos De negros cubanos Que hayan jurado tocar su tambor
Percussion played by black Cuban hands who have vowed to play their drums.
Yiribon yiribon
More repetition of a phrase to add to the musicality of the song.
En cuba se corta la cana En cuba se
Toma el café En cuba se baila bembé Se fuma tabaco Se toma guarapo Detras de la comparsa Se va echando un pie
In Cuba we cut the sugarcane. In Cuba, we drink coffee. In Cuba, we dance bembé. We smoke tobacco and drink guarapo. Behind the comparsa, we dance.
Yimboro yimboro yimboroo
Repetition of a phrase to end the song with energy.
Writer(s): Traditional
Contributed by Isaac H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@copperlapislazuli4156
This track is so addicting
@lenadublavais4273
I need lyrics I can’t sing along .
@chrla5559
@@lenadublavais4273
Yiri Yiri Boum
Yiri Yiri Boum
Yiri Yiri Boum
Yiri Yiri Boum
SORRY
@mohamedmohamud3639
Damn right bro oyee
@OnlineJamaica
NO JOKE, one time and i was HOOKED , had to find out who the guy was??! What is his hx why is he 'so cuban' as well as Beninese (? if that's a word :) )
@AntonioAdlei
Here in Brazil, especially in Bahia, we have Benin in our DNA!
@TheTrill334
One love brother , from united states
@phuckingaroundwithphabric8077
It's all Africa. Just a boat ride difference.
@cf4801
Thanks! We love you too from Benin!
@igoriwanowski5488
No Brasil plagiaram essa música