Angelique Kidjo's 'Oyo' Celebrates a Rich Musical Heritage

Wednesday November 25, 2009

From Spinner.com
By Steve Hochman

What a playlist! Some African folk songs mixed with the African-American R&B of Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and James Brown. Sidney Bechet and Bollywood. Santana’s ‘Samba Pa Ti’ and a South African lullaby. And it all works together perfectly. It would be tough to find a better mix on any hour of even the most eclectic radio or club DJ set.

But it’s on ‘Oyo,’ the upcoming album from Angélique Kidjo — due for release in February, though she gave Around the World an early listen and a chance to talk with her about it. The follow-up to the Benin-born star’s 2007 contemporary world-music Grammy Award-winning album ‘Djin Djin‘ contains all those things and more. And it’s not just an exercise in random eclecticism. This is all music that inspired Kidjo in her youth in Africa to become the artist she is today, and in that regard is a soundtrack for her mission to provide health care and education opportunities for children in Africa and elsewhere in her role as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and with her own Batonga Foundation.

“This is the story of my childhood,” she says. “All these songs brought me to where I am today, inspired me to do the music I have been doing for many, many years. This music has always been my Bible, the thing that reminds me what is the mission of the arts.”

Yes, even ‘Petite Fleur,’ a lovely tune composed in the ’40s by New Orleans clarinetist Sidney Bechet. Her father, she explains, was a jazz fan and musician — he was playing clarinet in a band himself when he met Kidjo’s mother-to-be — and made recordings of Bechet, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and others household staples.

Yes, even the jaunty Bollywood song ‘Dil Main Chuppa Ke Pyar Ka,’ a persistent memory from childhood that eventually became an obsession — but more on that later.

And yes, the American soul was essential to her evolution and wide reach as an artist. Beyond that, Redding’s ‘I’ve Got Dreams to Remember’ almost serves as a thematic centerpiece for her collection of memories.

Baby, I Love You feat. Dianne Reeves	3:10	Angélique Kidjo
Zelie	2:04	Angélique Kidjo
Move On Up feat. John Legend	3:46	Angélique Kidjo
Ae Ae	3:31	Angélique Kidjo

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