Angelique Kidjo Truly Makes World Music

Friday June 10, 2011

From mysanantonio.com

Angelique Kidjo truly makes world music.
By Jim Beal Jr.

If anyone asks what kind of music vocalist Angelique Kidjo sings, the best answer is probably “All of it.”

Born in Benin in West Africa, Kidjo relocated to France in her 20s and calls New York City home. Through the course of a career that has seen her release a string of well-received albums, including the Grammy-winning “Djin Djin” and the latest, “Oyo,” Kidjo has recorded Afro-pop, Afro-funk, spirituals, reggae, jazz, rhumba, zouk, makossa and much more.

“I just fell into it,” said Kidjo, who plays Saturday night at the Carver Community Cultural Center. “My father said I started singing before I started talking.

“In Benin, history, and the history of our music, was not written. A storyteller would come to our house and she would sing to my mother’s belly when my mother was pregnant with me. The storyteller told my mother I was going to be a girl and I was going to be a singer.”

Score one for the storyteller. Kidjo’s mother was an actress, a dancer and the leader of a theater troupe. Her father ran the post office and was a photographer. Both were big on education. Her father was sent to France to study.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/article/Angelique-Kidjo-truly-makes-world-music-1394143.php#ixzz1OsnmbRaz

To read more click “here”: http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/article/Angelique-Kidjo-truly-makes-world-music-1394143.php

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