Angelique Kidjo

   
Artist: Angelique Kidjo

   Genre(s): 
Folk
   Latin
   Dance
   Ethnic
   Jazz
   

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Discography:


   
 Djin Djin

   Year: 2007   
Tracks: 13


   
 Oyaya!

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 13


   
 Black Ivory Soul

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 15


   
 Keep on Moving-Best of Angelique Kidjo

   Year: 2001   
Tracks: 18


   
 Parakou

   Year: 1998   
Tracks: 9


   
 Fifa

   Year: 1996   
Tracks: 10


   
 Aye

   Year: 1994   
Tracks: 10


   
 Logozo

   Year: 1992   
Tracks: 10


   
 Oremi

   Year:    
Tracks: 12

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Afro-funk, reggae, samba, salsa, religious doctrine, jazz, Zairean rhumba, zouk, and makossa are combined through the music of soulful, Benin-born, Paris-based singer Angélique Kidjo. Since the release of her self-generated debut solo album, Pretty, in 1988, Kidjo has been embraced by the international press. Kidjo's albums make been reinforced by contributions from super guest musicians and producers. Parakou, her first internationally distributed album, featured jazz keyboardist Jasper van't Hof, the leader of Pili Pili, a Holland-based Afro-jazz band with whom Kidjo had performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1987. Logozo, recorded in Miami in 1991 and produced by Joe Galdo of Miami Sound Machine, featured Branford Marsalis on sax. Marsalis later performed on Kidjo's album Oremi. The album features Kidjo singing duets with Cassandra Wilson ("Never Know") and Kelly Price ("Open Your Eyes"). Kidjo's near ambitious record album, Fifa (1996), featured more than C percussionists, flutists, cowbell and berimbau players, singers, and dancers from Benin and one cut featuring Carlos Santana. Kidjo's married man, Jean Hébrail, a French bass player and composer she met in 1987, has played a major function in the recording of her albums.


The daughter of an actress, dancer, and theatrical producer, Kidjo was born in Quidah, a coastal city in the West African land of Benin. Inheriting her mother's beloved of acting, she made her stagecoach debut with her mother's theatrical troupe. Inspired by the rock candy, pop, and soul music of Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Miriam Makeba, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin, she was singing professionally by her 20th birthday. Although she recorded an album, Pretty, produced by Cameroon-based singer Ekambi Brilliant that yielded a attain individual, "Ninive," the oppressive political environs of Benin light-emitting diode her to relocate to Paris in 1980. Although modernistic engineering and electronics played an important function in the recording of her first four-spot albums, Kidjo returned to her traditional roots with Fifa. Armed with eight-track taping recorders and microphones, Kidjo and a team of engineers traveled to Benin to record traditional musicians, singers, and dancers. The album was completed during transcription roger Huntington Sessions in Paris, London, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. With her succeeding album, 1998's Oremi, Kidjo returned to her futuristic overture. Incorporating elements of hip-hop and Afro-Celtic grooves, Oremi featured a reconstructed interpretation of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slender Return)."


Kidjo's enthusiastic presence was evident on the video of her international hit "Agolo," from her record album Aye (1994). Produced by Will Mowatt of Soul II Soul and longtime Prince collaborator David Z, the video was nominated for a Grammy Award. Kidjo's songs make been featured on the soundtracks of such films as My Favorite Season, Street Fighter, and Mavin Ventura: When Nature Calls. As the new millennium got underway, Kidjo signed to Columbia and prepped for her major-label debut. Exploring musical elements of her aboriginal Benin to that of northeast Brazil, Sinister Ivory Soul was released in 2002. Oyaya!, which featured a quislingism with Dave Matthews, was issued two days later. Kidjo then linked forces with Razor & Tie for the May 2007 release of Djin Djin.