iYa Voy! (FR, CO)

The Spanish exclamation ‘I’m on my way’ is a fitting name for this band that will perform in Finland and the Nordic countries for the first time in November. This is not the only reason, however. iYa Voy!, which consists of four musicians in their forties, is also on its way in other senses, as the group was only formed last year and is planning to release its first album Miraflores in October, just before the Tampere Jazz Happening.

The musicians in this ensemble naturally have a long professional journey behind them, two of them also in Finland. Some may know French bassist Thibault Cellier (b. 1986) from a group called Papanosh, which toured Finland in spring 2023 and already performed at the Jazz Happening in November 2015. French tenor saxophonist Sakina Abdou (b. 1984) visited Espoo, Salo and Tampere in spring 2024, and she will return to Finland in late November to play five gigs with a different ensemble.

The most prominent musicians of iYa Voy! come from even further away. Singer, songwriter and percussionist Alejandra Charry (b. 1985) and percussionist Moises Zamora Mesú grew up in a small town in Colombia. Charry, who started as a cello player, moved to France as a postgraduate student in 2004, while Mesú, who plays the Afro-Colombian traditional marimba, still lives in Colombia and is a university teacher by his second profession.

But what about the music of iYa Voy!, which mainly comprises Spanish-language pieces with compositions and lyrics by Charry? They remain a mystery while we are still waiting for the release of their first album, but an encounter of at least two different musical cultures would be a safe bet.