Yahenda is Toronto electronic rock and pop musician Sergio Abegao, formerly of the bands Hibou and Gryffen. He first picked up the guitar as a shy 16 year-old looking for a way to impress a girl. Music's been his one true love ever since.

 

Born in Lisbon, Portugal to an Angolan mother and Portuguese father, Sergio Yahenda Emanuel Octavio Abegao was on an airplane at only 8 days old, headed to Luanda, Angola to celebrate Angolan independence and the end of the civil war. 

 

The name Yahenda was given to him by his parents in honour of the Angolan war hero Hoji-ya-Henda (Lion of Love), and he adopted it as his artist name in the 2000s.

 

He released a solo album in 2014, Big Corners, 13 tracks that follow every tangent of his inner voice, every twist of his conflicted heart. His gentle melodies and wistful lyrics are folded into layers of beats, booty-shaking hooks and his original guitar attack. 

 

80s synths, rhythmic counterpoint, minor-key acoustic longing and bombastic electro fun -- Yahenda packs it all into his songs about wanderlust, inner-conflict, loss and redemption. Everyone can find themselves in a Yahenda song-- searching, hoping, wondering, and dreaming along with him.