Spring Break
New release gives worldly taste on a frappuccino budget
Kirk Cooper
Issue date: 2/28/07 Section: ARTS
For a colorful, vibrant musical tour of West Africa, Benin-born artist Angelique Kidjo is the perfect guide.
Her new world music album Djin Djin, scheduled for release on May 1, is the kind of music a listener can enjoy with the psychedelic visuals on Windows Media Player turned on.
Like those visuals, Kidjo's music blends genres and melts them together. Her songs ripple with influences of rock and jazz and spin with the flavor of Latin and African pop, but they change texture and musical color often enough to keep things interesting.
Initially, I was a little nervous about listening to the CD. Featuring big name artists like Alicia Keys, Branford Marsalis and Ziggy Marley, I worried that Djin Djin would turn out to be one of those "very special" compilation albums riddled with celebrities that would jump the shark before Kidjo even got a chance to make an impression. The fact that Starbucks will be selling her music upon its release didn't help her case.
In spite of all this, Kidjo's music is not unpleasant to listen to. Some of the more upbeat songs seemed a little too energetic the first time around, but after listening to it a few times, the listener not only gets used to it, he or she feels like joining in the fun.
Her collaboration with better-known musicians pays off. On the CD's fourth track, "Salala," Kidjo teams up with Peter Gabriel, former lead vocalist of Genesis, to create a mellow contrast to some of her other songs.
My favorite track on this album is "Pearls," featuring two of my personal musical idols: voice virtuoso Josh Groban, with whom Kidjo is currently touring, and hard-driving Latin rock legend Carlos Santana.
It doesn't seem like the combination would work, but Kidjo's jazzy voice and Groban's classical voice lock in harmony with Carlos Santana's guitar screaming in the background. I was down with that. It warranted a spot on my overcrowded iPod shuffle.
Kidjo can hold her own individually as well. "Papa" starts out sounding like the Legend of Zelda theme, and I could swear she rips off the McDonald's jingle in "Awan N'la," but they're both decent songs, and I thoroughly enjoyed the Latin and Arabic influences in "Arouna."
For a change of pace and a flavor of the exotic that's mainstream enough for frappuccino tastes, check out this album.
Her new world music album Djin Djin, scheduled for release on May 1, is the kind of music a listener can enjoy with the psychedelic visuals on Windows Media Player turned on.
Like those visuals, Kidjo's music blends genres and melts them together. Her songs ripple with influences of rock and jazz and spin with the flavor of Latin and African pop, but they change texture and musical color often enough to keep things interesting.
Initially, I was a little nervous about listening to the CD. Featuring big name artists like Alicia Keys, Branford Marsalis and Ziggy Marley, I worried that Djin Djin would turn out to be one of those "very special" compilation albums riddled with celebrities that would jump the shark before Kidjo even got a chance to make an impression. The fact that Starbucks will be selling her music upon its release didn't help her case.
In spite of all this, Kidjo's music is not unpleasant to listen to. Some of the more upbeat songs seemed a little too energetic the first time around, but after listening to it a few times, the listener not only gets used to it, he or she feels like joining in the fun.
Her collaboration with better-known musicians pays off. On the CD's fourth track, "Salala," Kidjo teams up with Peter Gabriel, former lead vocalist of Genesis, to create a mellow contrast to some of her other songs.
My favorite track on this album is "Pearls," featuring two of my personal musical idols: voice virtuoso Josh Groban, with whom Kidjo is currently touring, and hard-driving Latin rock legend Carlos Santana.
It doesn't seem like the combination would work, but Kidjo's jazzy voice and Groban's classical voice lock in harmony with Carlos Santana's guitar screaming in the background. I was down with that. It warranted a spot on my overcrowded iPod shuffle.
Kidjo can hold her own individually as well. "Papa" starts out sounding like the Legend of Zelda theme, and I could swear she rips off the McDonald's jingle in "Awan N'la," but they're both decent songs, and I thoroughly enjoyed the Latin and Arabic influences in "Arouna."
For a change of pace and a flavor of the exotic that's mainstream enough for frappuccino tastes, check out this album.
Be the first to comment on this story