Angélique Kidjo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Angélique Kidjo | |
|---|---|
.jpg/220px-Angélique_Kidjo(Jarvin).jpg) |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Angélique Kidjo |
| Born | July 14, 1960 Ouidah, Benin |
| Genre(s) | Afropop, Afrobeat, reggae, world, world fusion, worldbeat, jazz, gospel, Latin |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Label(s) | Island, Mango, PolyGram, Columbia, Razor & Tie |
| Website | www.kidjo.com |
Angélique Kidjo (born July 14, 1960) is a Grammy Award-winning Beninese singer and songwriter, noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos.
Contents |
[edit] Career
Kidjo was born in Ouidah, Benin. By the time she was six, Kidjo was performing with her mother's theatre troupe, giving her an early appreciation for music and dance. Continuing political conflicts in Benin led Kidjo to relocate to Paris around 1982. She started out as a backup singer in local bands, before establishing her own band. In 1985, she became the frontsinger of the known Euro-African jazz/rock band Jasper van't Hof's Pili Pili. Three studio albums followed: Jakko (1987) Be In Two Minds (1988, produced by Marlon Klein) and Hotel Babo (1990). By the end of the 1980s, she had become one of the most popular live performers in Paris. She is married to musician and producer Jean Hebrail with whom she has daughter Naïma (born 1993), and is currently based in New York.
Her musical influences include the Afropop, Caribbean zouk, Congolese rumba, jazz, gospel, and Latin styles; as well as her childhood idols Bella Bellow, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Miriam Makeba and Carlos Santana. She has made her own renditions of George Gershwin's Summertime, Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child, and The Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter, and has collaborated with the likes of Dave Matthews and the Dave Matthews Band, Kelly Price, Branford Marsalis, Robbie Nevil, Carlos Santana, and Cassandra Wilson. Kidjo's hits include the songs "Agolo", "Ayé", and "Batonga".
Kidjo is fluent in Fon, French, Yoruba, and English and sings in all four languages; she also has her own personal language which includes words that serve as songtitles such as Batonga. Malaika is a song sung in Swahili language. She often utilizes Benin's traditional Zilin vocal technique and jazz vocalese.
In February of 2003, she performed a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" at the famed Radio City Music Hall in New York City alongside Chicago blues guitar legend Buddy Guy and New York rock guitarist Vernon Reid (of Living Colour) in what would become part of Martin Scorsese's "Lightning In A Bottle: One Night In The History Of The Blues", a documentary about blues music that features live concert footage of other rock, rap, and blues greats.
Angelique Kidjo released an album titled Djin Djin on May 1st, 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, Djin Djin, refers to the sound of a bell in Africa that greets each new day. The album is produced by Tony Visconti, who is known for producing David Bowie, Morrissey, and T. Rex, among others.
In 2007, she covered John Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)" for the CD Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.
In 2007, she toured North America extensively with Josh Groban's "Awake" show.
On 7 July, 2007, Kidjo performed at the South African leg of Live Earth.
Annie Lennox has joined forces with Angelique Kidjo and 22 other female artists to raise the awareness of the transmission of HIV to unborn children in Africa.
Bono of the Irish rock band U2 has described Kidjo as "the galvanizing voice of sub-Saharan Africa" and considers her the "vanguard of the crusade for Darfur".
[edit] Miscellaneous
She has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2002.
Kidjo founded The Batonga Foundation which gives girls a secondary school and higher education so they can take the lead in changing Africa. The foundation is doing this by granting scholarships, building secondary schools, increasing enrollment, improving teaching standards, providing school supplies, supporting mentor programs, exploring alternative education models and advocating for community awareness of the value of education for girls.
In The Simpsons episode "Simpson Safari", Homer's guide sings lines from Kidjo's "Wé-Wé", from her album Logozo.
Kidjo appeared in a bonus track of the official The Lion King 2 soundtrack, reprising the song "We Are One", featuring a more African influenced arrangement of instruments and several lines in Fon.
She now resides in New York City, New York, United States[1]
[edit] Discography
- Pretty (African release only)
- Parakou (1990)
- Logozo (1991)
- Ayé (1994)
- Fifa (1996)
- Oremi (1998)
- Keep On Moving: The Best Of Angelique Kidjo (2001)
- Black Ivory Soul (2002)
- Oyaya! (2004)
- Djin Djin (2007)
Kidjo has also recorded many songs for various movies
[edit] Awards
- Octave RFI (1992)
- Prix Afrique en Creation (1992)
- Danish Music Awards: Best Female Singer (1995)
- Kora Music Awards: Best African Female artist (1997)
- Mobo Awards (2002)
- Antonio Carlos Jobim Award (2007)
- NAACP Image Award for Outstanding World Music Album (2008)
- Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album (2008)
Grammy nominations include the Best Music Video of 1995 and Best World Music Album in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007.
Angélique Kidjo is the 4th laureate of the Antonio Carlos Jobim Award (2007). Created in 2004 on the 25th anniversary of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, each year the award is given to an artist distinguished in the field of world music whose influence on the evolution of jazz and cultural crossover is widely recognized
[edit] Dance/club hits
Several of her singles have reached the Billboard Dance/Club Play chart. In 1996, Junior Vasquez remixes of her song "Wombo Lombo" brought the song to #16. In 2002, King Britt remixes of her single "Tumba" helped the song reach #26. There have been other Kidjo singles to be remixed by notable producers, though the others didn't chart. "Agolo" was remixed by Mark Kinchen, "Shango" was remixed by Junior Vasquez, and "Conga Habanera" was remixed by Jez Colin. "Salala" from Djin Djin was remixed in 2007 by Junior Vasquez and Radioactive Sandwich.[1]
