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Angelique Kidjo
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Singing since she was six, Beninese native Angelique Kidjo has long been a consummate professional. Unlike many African musicians, Angelique speaks English quite well and, unlike most musical stars, she communicates directly and dynamically with her audience. As a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, Angelique caters to a large and varied number of audiences, and she has long been frank and passionate in her opinions. Angelique's songs are varied yet consistently solid. Her music meshes Beninean rhythms with elements of American soul and funk, samba, reggae, salsa, jazz, gospel, zouk, makossa, and soukous. While she mostly sings in Fon and Yoruba, she ... does a few numbers in English.
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Angelique Kidjo, one of Africa's most prolific and best known artistes, is from Benin in West Africa. She started singing at age six, producing songs that span music genres and language categories, and has nine albums to her credit. She performed at the 2006 Francophonie Festival in Washington, D.C. in March and discusses her career in music with AllAfrica's Gaddiel Baah.
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Since she broke the charts worldwide in the 1990’s with her albums Logozo und Aye and the singles Batonga und Agolo, Angelique Kidjo has achieved worldwide recognition as an international, African pop artist. She is not only one of the spunkiest, most electrifying performers in the pop world today, but she's ... one of its most forward and creative thinkers, an artist whose mission has been to explore the relationships between diverse musical cultures. Her work has garnered her four Grammy nominations, has cross-pollinated the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk and jazz, as well as influences from Europe and Latin America. After Aye a trilogy of concept albums was released, Oremi (1998), Black Ivory Soul (2002) and Oyaya! (2004) that explored African roots in music from the United States, from Brazil and from the Caribbean. While she has steeped her music in the tribal and pop rhythms of her West African heritage, the Paris/Brooklyn-based Kidjo is ever crossing musical boundaries by blending a variety of styles.
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Angelique Kidjo, whose work has earned four Grammy Award nominations, has cross-pollinated the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk, and jazz, as well as influences from Europe and Latin America. In the course of her successful career, Kidjo has spread her rhythmic Afro-funk fusion to the four corners of the globe. After touring this past year with Josh Groban, she released an album entitled Djin Djin, which features duets with Groban, Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel, and others. Her music reminds audiences that the world is indeed a small place and that, no matter how far-flung its peoples may be, subtle lines of interconnection span the globe.
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Angelique Kidjo was grew up in the small West African country of Benin, where she began performing at age six. Her parents were musical, and in her family, she was exposed to music from all over the globe, especially American pop, rock and soul. She is said to have been mesmerized by a Jimi Hendrix album which led her to want to explore American rock, but based on her African roots. She eventually relocated to Paris, which has been the kind of headquarters of African fusion artists, who would travel there to record and to exchange influences. In recent years, she has been living in New York, and has further plunged into the confluence of African, Caribbean, Brazilian, and Western pop. Three of her previous CDs were nominated for Grammy Awards in the world music category. She has ... been serving as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' UNICEF foundation, with its advocacy for children.
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With her new release, Djin Djin (pronounced “gin gin”), Angelique Kidjo returns to the soul of Benin and creates an album truly global in scope. The all-star guests include Josh Groban, Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel, Carlos Santana, Joss Stone, Ziggy Marley and Branford Marsalis. Artists such as Peter Gabriel and Alicia Keys have been tireless in their charitable work for African causes. Carlos Santana told Kidjo that his music has always been inspired by the music of Africa. They were no doubt drawn to record with Kidjo, who in 2002 was named a UNICEF goodwill ambassador.
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Angelique Kidjo