Back in the day when cassette tapes were cool, my Dad had the cassette of Grammy award winning Beninoise songstress Angélique Kidjo. It was probably the only African music my Dad played in the house with vocals. He played a lot of African instrumentals in the house and I would hear Ghanaian music frequently in my cousin’s car or at a party. My Dad would replay the Kidjo tape over and over again to the point skipped a beat here and there. As a wannabe performer back in the day, I learnt all of the words without understanding what I was singing, and made up ‘action’ dances on a weekly basis. It was my introduction to music which wasn’t Ghanaian or Nigerian.
I lost touch with Kidjo‘s music, found hip-hop, neo-soul, hiplife and basically never looked back. However every time I hear Kidjo‘s music those fond memories dancing in the living room of our flat to when I was younger to her songs. Listening to her songs made me feel really connected to Africa even though most of the time I have no idea what she was saying in her songs. Her voice was like Africa to my ears.
That feeling has engulfed me all over again with Kidjo‘s her new album Eve. Eve is in remembrance of African women Kidjo grew up with and a testament to the pride and strength that hid behind their smiles to mask their everyday troubles. Yet a testimony to female empowerment.
The release of Kidjo‘s album coincided with the release of her autobiography Spirit rising: My Life, My Music written with Rachel Wenrick (published by Harper Collins). The book reveals Kidjo‘s dangerous escape into France, and how she rose from poverty to become a Grammy Award–winning artist and an international sensation at the top of Billboard’s World Albums chart.
Eve is now available on iTunes.
“In Africa’s new morning . . . Angélique Kidjo is the warmth in that rising sun.”
—Bono