ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO
Genres: African Fusion, Afro-Cuban Jazz • Benin

Beninese singer whose Fon-language dance music and percussive rhythms earned her acclaim beyond her homeland. After rising to international success with the release of her chart-topping 1991 album, Logozo, West African singer Angélique Kidjo became a fixture of world music, pairing her unique multilingual fusion of Afrobeat, pop, jazz, reggae, and various African traditions with collaborators who span multiple genres of music, from Philip Glass and the Kronos Quartet to Peter Gabriel, Alicia Keys, Dr. John, and Branford Marsalis. After leaving her native Benin for Paris, Kidjo recorded a string of critically acclaimed albums for Island Records in the '90s, followed by an ambitious trilogy that saw her exploring African music's influence in the Americas, from gospel to Brazilian and Latin. Her adventurous spirit and collaborative nature have been hallmarks of her career, while a deep-rooted sense of her Beninese and West African heritage has remained a through-line in all of read more...