Angélique Kidjo
Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo is a Beninese musician, actress, and activist. Kidjo has won five Grammy Awards and is a 2023 Polar Music Prize laureate. She has collaborated with other artists such as Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel, John Legend, Philip Glass, Bono, Yo-Yo Ma, and Burna Boy. She is the first Black African artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She performed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on July 23, 2021. In 2021, Time magazine included her in its list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Kidjo is fluent in five languages: Fon, French, Yorùbá, Gen and English. She sings in all of them, and she also has her own personal language, which includes words that serve as song titles such as "Batonga". Kidjo often uses Benin's traditional Zilin vocal technique and vocalese.
Early life
Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo was born in Ouidah, French Dahomey, in what became Benin. Her father is from the Fon people of Ouidah and her mother from the Yoruba people. Her father was a musician, and her mother worked as a choreographer and theatre director. She grew up listening to Yoruba and Beninese traditional music, Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, James Brown, Manu Dibango, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Fela Kuti, Stevie Wonder, Osibisa and Santana. By the time she was six years old, Kidjo was performing with her mother's theatre troupe.She started singing in her school band, Les Sphinx, and found success as a teenager with her adaptation of Miriam Makeba's "Les Trois Z", which was played on national radio. Kidjo recorded the album Pretty with Cameroonian producer Ekambi Brilliant and her brother Oscar. It featured the songs "Ninive", "Gbe Agossi", and a tribute to the singer Bella Bellow, one of her role models. The success of the album allowed her to tour all over West Africa. Continuing political conflicts in Benin prevented her from being an independent artist in her own country and led her to relocate to Paris in 1983.
Paris
After moving to France, Kidjo initially planned to become a human rights lawyer, but ended up studying music. While working various day jobs to pay for her tuition, Kidjo studied music at the CIM, a jazz school in Paris, where she met musician and producer Jean Hebrail, with whom she has composed most of her music and whom she married in 1987. She started out as a backup singer in local bands. In 1985, she became the front singer of Jasper van 't Hof's Euro-African jazz/rock band Pili Pili. Three Pili Pili studio albums followed: Jakko, Be In Two Minds and Hotel Babo. By the end of the 1980s, she had become one of the most popular live performers in Paris and recorded a solo album called Parakou for the Open Jazz Label. She met Island Records founder Chris Blackwell in Paris; Blackwell signed her to a record deal in 1991. She recorded four albums for Island until Blackwell's departure from the label. In 2000, she was signed in New York by Columbia Records, for whom she recorded two albums.Albums
''Parakou''
Kidjo's first international album Parakou, first released in 1989, was the beginning of a series of collaborations with producer and composer Jean Hébrail and featured Jasper van't Hof.''Logozo''
Her first album for Island Records was recorded between Miami and Paris and produced by Miami Sound Machine drummer Joe Galdo and features Branford Marsalis and Manu DiBango on saxophones. It was released worldwide in 1991 and reached number one on the Billboard World Albums chart. Music videos for the singles "We We" and "Batonga" were released and Kidjo made her first world tour, headlining the Olympia Hall in Paris on October 31, 1992. Logozo is ranked number 37 in the Greatest Dance Albums of All Time list compiled by the Thump website.''Ayé''
Released in 1994, the album Ayé was produced by David Z at Prince's Paisley Park Studios in Minnesota and by Will Mowat at Soul To Soul studio in London. It includes the single "Agolo", a song that addresses the issue of the environment, of which the video directed by Michel Meyer gave Kidjo her first Grammy nomination. Kidjo sang on the album in both Yoruba and Fon, often using the Beninese traditional zilin vocal technique. The song "Agolo" was used as the theme tune of the BBC World Service programme Everywoman.''Fifa''
Kidjo and Hebrail traveled all over Benin in 1995 to record the traditional rhythms that formed the base for the Fifa album. Carlos Santana appears on "Naima", a piece Kidjo wrote for her daughter. The single "Wombo Lombo" and its video directed by Michel Meyer was a success all over Africa in 1996.Trilogy
In 1998, she began recording a trilogy of albums exploring the African roots of the music of the Americas.''Oremi''
Produced by Peter Mokran and Jean Hebrail, recorded in New York, Oremi is a collection of songs mixing African and African-American influences. Cassandra Wilson, Branford Marsalis, Kelly Price and Kenny Kirkland collaborated with Kidjo on this project. The opening track is a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child".''Black Ivory Soul''
In 2000, Kidjo traveled to Salvador de Bahia to start recording the Axe percussion grooves for this album, based on Afro-Brazilian culture. She worked with songwriters Carlinhos Brown and Vinicius Cantuária. On the Brazilian version of the album Gilberto Gil joined her on "Refavela" and Daniella Mercury on "Tumba". Dave Matthews appears in the song "Iwoya".''Oyaya!''
Produced by Steve Berlin from Los Lobos and by the pianist Alberto Salas, released in 2004, Oyaya! mixes Latin and Caribbean music with African guitars. French Guyanese musician Henri Salvador joined Kidjo on the song "Le Monde Comme un Bébé".''Djin Djin''
Kidjo released the album Djin Djin on May 1, 2007. Many guests appear on the album including Josh Groban, Carlos Santana, Alicia Keys, Joss Stone, Peter Gabriel, Amadou and Mariam, Ziggy Marley and Branford Marsalis. The title refers to the sound of a bell in Africa that greets each new day. The album, produced by Tony Visconti, won a Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album and an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding World Music Album.''Õÿö''
Õÿö, released in Europe on January 18, 2010, and in America on April 6, 2010, pays tribute to the music of Kidjo's childhood in Benin. It mixes traditional music, Miriam Makeba's songs, classic soul of the 1960s and 1970s; including a song from the 1952 Bollywood film Aan, "Dil Main Chuppa Ke Pyar Ka". Dianne Reeves appears on Aretha Franklin's "Baby I Love You", Bono and John Legend on Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up", for which Kidjo recorded a video with the Fela! dancers and Roy Hargrove on Santana's "Samba Pa Ti". Produced by Kidjo and Jean Hebrail, the album was arranged in conjunction with the Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke. Õÿö was nominated for Best Contemporary World Music Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards.''Spirit Rising''
Spirit Rising, the live album from Kidjo's PBS Special performance, was released in North America on February 22, 2012. It features a collection of songs from her entire career played live in Boston with special guests Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend, Dianne Reeves, Branford Marsalis, Christian McBride and Josh Groban. Kidjo sang a version of "Redemption Song" with the Kuumba Singers.''Eve''
On January 28, 2014, Kidjo the album Eve, which was dedicated to the women of Africa. Kidjo stated that "Eve is an album of remembrance of African women I grew up with and a testament to the pride and strength that hide behind the smile that masks everyday troubles." She recorded the album in New York with the Beninese percussionists from the Gangbe Brass Band and an ensemble of session musicians. Performers on the album include Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke, Dominic James, Steve Jordan, Christian McBride, and producer Patrick Dillett. Guest musicians on the album include Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend, Nigerian folk singer Aṣa on "Eva", pianist Dr. John on "Kulumbu"; the Kronos Quartet and the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. The traditional Congolese song "Bana" features the vocals of Kidjo's mother Yvonne.The album debuted at number 1 in the Billboard World Music chart. It was rated No. 1 among world music albums for 2014 by Radio France Internationale. Its opening track, "M'Baamba", featured in The New York Times "Top 10 songs of 2014" list. Eve won the Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album at the 57th Grammy Awards.