Angélique Kidjo On the Influences Behind Her New Album "Oyo"

Friday March 26, 2010

From The Washington Post
By David Malitz

When I called Angelique Kidjo earlier this week to talk about her new album, “Oyo,” we first got sidetracked with a bit of food talk. She was in her Brooklyn kitchen preparing potato leek soup, regretting the lack of cooking she gets to do on tour and lamenting the predictability of men when it comes to food. An unadventerous eater, I told her I certainly fell into that category. “My husband’s the same,” She said. “I’m like, Can’t you be a little adventurous? Come on! Life is full of surprises. Take it! Be courageous. There are so many flavors in the world.”

That last statement serves as a good lead in to Kidjo’s new album, “Oyo,” which pays tribute to the diverse sounds and influences that helped shape her career, from a child in Benin to the Grammy-award winner she is now. Kidjo performs Saturday night at Lisner Auditorium. And if you ever find yourself lucky enough to be invited to her home for dinner she has some simple advice: “Don’t eat lunch.”

How did the idea for the record come about?
It came about after my father passed away, basically. People used to tell me when you lose one of your parents that’s when you realize you become an adult. And I used to say to myself, what kind of stupidness is that? You are an adult or you are not an adult. What does it have to do with your parents dying? But then I just felt like that.

So in order for me to really get over my grief I just decided that I was going to do this album because my father was the one that really, in my early age, exposed me to the world through music. And I remember 10 days before he passed away I was able to go and see him and when he looked up he said, “What are you doing here?! Aren’t you touring?” And I said, “Yes, Dad, I’m touring, but you’re not feeling good I have to come and see you.” And he was having a lot of trouble talking at that time. And I said, “Why shouldn’t I come and see you? And he looked at me and said, “Do not cancel any of your musical engagements to come and see me. Whatever, however sick I am. Because that’s what you are supposed to do. We have supported you since you were a child, don’t throw that away.

So that’s my dad. The album is because of him. The music he brought to me. He always said to me, “It’s not because you are born in Africa, you are a second-class human being. You deserve the best. I’m not giving you guys an education to come up with excuses to not do what you got to do to be successful in life. Do what you love to do with all of your heart. I’ve given you what I can afford to give you. If that is not enough, when you grow up go find it. Be curious. Go to other people’s cultures. Go meet people. If you stay in your bubble you won’t learn anything.

The album is to say thanks to him. And not just him but all of the artists, male and female, alive or dead, that have been really at the root of the person I am today. Because music has always been my oxygen. I’d rather go home and listen to a new album that has been released than to go out looking for trouble with my girlfriends. A lot of my girlfriends – they look at me like I’m weird. Why do you want to go listen to music all the time when we’re having fun? We have this guy looking at you. Which guy? I don’t care! I’m going home. Because the music was more important to me than exploring anything else but music.

Read the full article.

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