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Biography

Angelique Kidjo has succeeded with her aim of creating African based, but electronically performed, dance music. She has been criticised severely for leaning toward mainstream commercialism, but has continued to develop her “cross over” music; you no longer find her listed under “W” for World Music in European music stores, but simply under the initial “K” for Kidjo.
Angelique Kidjo was born, one of nine children, in the village of Ouidah in the little West African country of Benin. Her father is a musician, her mother a clothes merchant and director of a large dance troupe. Angelique began to sing and dance at the age of six. One of her older brothers introduced her at an early age to western rock, such as The Stones, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and Aretha Franklin. She also was exposed to jazz, Arabic and Pakistani music in addition to church music. While she still went for the outgoing stuff, she began to sing in the band Sphinx, which became popular and won several local competitions. In 1980 she moved to Paris and enrolled at music school, learning classical French songs and jazz. Thereafter she studied under the jazz singer Joy Kane for two years, something that had a strong influence on her later career and helped develop further her powerful and deep voice, as well as her rhythm and precision.
In 1984 she participated in a tour with Radio France in West Africa. During this time she made several recordings in France and The Netherlands, before being discovered by Chris Blackwell of Island Records. She signed a contract and in 1991 her breakthrogh came with the album “Logozo”.
Even though Angelique Kidjo arranges herself on the international pop and disco market, she has continued to sing in her native Fon language and her lyrics are partly political-feministic. She is totally lacking in snobbery and likes to let the public loose on stage during rhythm explosions in her concert finales.

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PARAKOU  
Mango/1989

Not one genuine African instrument can be found on Angelique Kidjo’s international debut album. The sound in her husband, Jean Hebrail’s, arrangements are thoroughly high-tech. Still, the disc brims with charm. This is due in part to Angelique Kidjo’s heartfelt use of her voice and the musical landscape being as open as the African plateaus from which it came. From here you can move in all directions: funk, soul, Afropop and jazz. Angelique Kidjo has marked out her own musical path and it is varied, exciting and trodden with professional integrity. This is a debut album that stands out.

LOGOZO  
Mango/1991

From the first note it is clear that this is modern dance music. It is this that it Kidjo’s business and she does it with style and engagement, without being pretentious. The rhythm moves easily and Angelique Kidjo sings powerfully and captivatingly. What lifts Kidjo over the myriad other female singers who try to do the same is her schooled voice, together with the fact that for the whole time you have the feeling that this woman knows what she wants to do, and she does it all herself. The songs are composed by herself and her husband (the bassist in the band, Jean Hebrail) and they have succeeded in creating their own African disco sound. “Logozo” is in fact a very sympathetic dance album - one sure to be heard on the dance floor. There is also variety with small, steady interludes such as “Malaika” between dance songs.

AYÉ  
Mango/1994

“Aye” was the sequel that reached further than “Logozo”, and established Angelique Kidjo as a world-class artist. The style is the same, but the arrangement is wholesome, plump and thoroughly more sophisticated. On the whole, this disk runs at full pressure the whole way, with two or three gentle pieces in between the toughest bone breaking tracks. Irresistibly captivating, and sung with a gleam in the eye, “Aye” almost reaches the same heights as Mory Kante’s “Touma” as a party disk.

FIFA
Mango/1996

OREMI  
Mango/1998

The African element is less apparent here than on the previous disk, and that has made “Oremi” more mainstream disco, and for the listener less interesting. The album opens with a captivating version of Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child” that Kidjo sings very well. But she seems to slip into something that sounds like rather anaemic party background music. Good enough, but nothing you really feel like listening to, and it is not worth the trouble because we’ve heard this sort of thing a thousand times before. As the disk comes to an end it freshens itself up slightly with the song “Yaki Yaki”, but it’s too late.

BEST OF
Wrasse/2001

Best of album with songs from the five disks mentioned above. Click on recording company for more information.

BLACK IVORY SOUL  
Colombia/2002

It’s hard to find anything negative to say about Angelique Kidjo’s new album as it’s so - sympathetic: a warm, pliable sound with Kidjo as well-schooled and good as usual. On the other hand it’s hard to drum up any great enthusiasm or excitement about it. Although Angelique Kidjo avoids becoming too commercial, or shallow, she is traversing a musical landscape where success is gained or lost according to how well the music captivates the audience. ”Black Ivory Soul” fails to completely captivate. Kidjo explores the connection between West Africa and Brazil on this disc. It’s an interesting concept: the Bahia province of Brazil has a predominately black population and a rich, exciting music tradition that obviously originated in Africa. But despite the pretty arrangements and faultless production by Bill Laswell, there are far fewer good melodies on ”Black Ivory Soul” than one would wish. Angelique tries to make a hit, but is somehow not really commercial enough to hit the charts. The title track and single version of the song, ”Les Enfants Perdus” have a commercial potential, but two good songs don’t make a million seller. ”Aye” continues to be Angelique Kidjo’s best album. (And if you are researching Brazil, check out Virginia Rodriguez and her ”Nos” album. This has the raw, engaging quality that ”Black Ivory Soul” lacks.)

OYAYA  
Colombia/2004

Once again Angelique Kidjo is back, with her 7th original album. This time she is researching the westward transposition of African music, with the slaves. On her 2 previous records she has investigated black American music, on "Oremi" , and on "Black Ivory Soul" she went to Brazil. This time she investigates the West Indian connection. Angelique Kidjo is still balancing on a tight rope with her concept of international world music. The music is supposed to reach everybody and she is in acute danger of grasping too much and losing her soul. However, I still think she manages pretty well this time; "Oyaya" is a fresher album than "Black Ivory Soul". The sound is complexe and organic, with a big range in the instrumentation, from crispy soukous guitar on "Congoleo" to nearly schmalz violins on "Le monde comme un bebe", sung in French in a duet with Henri Salvador. The style is made up by different Caribbean dance rhythms like Merengue, Salsa and Calypso, which goes well with Kidjo's musical foundation, Modern African dance music. The album's best track is "Dje dje l'aye" with a beautiful and poetic cooperation between Ramon Stagnaro on accoustic guitar and Mamadou Diabate on kora. And of course Angelique Kidjo's powerful voice. All compositions are as usual by Kidjo herself and her husband Jean Hebrail. The standard is kept up throughout the entire album, more or less, much thanks to Steve Berlin's and Alberto Salas' classy production. But occasionally I wonder if this is too slick, and I'm in doubt as to whether "Oyaya" really deserves a 5 on the dice. But of one thing I'm quite sure:"Oyaya" is Angelique Kidjo's best album in 10 years!

DJIN DJIN
Colombia/2007

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