ANGELIQUE KIDJO
Djin Djin
Razor & Tie/Starbucks Entertainment
· Angelique Kidjo will be the opening act at Josh Groban's concert in Calgary later this summer.
Angelique Kidjo is one of those worldbeat artists who has always had widespread crossover appeal. This is due in large part to her incorporation of western musical styles and instrumentation and tendency to collaborate. On her latest CD she gives full rein to this tendency and enlists the help of such luminaries as Carlos Santana, Peter Gabriel and Branford Marsalis as well as a smattering of lesser lights like Josh Groban and Joss Stone. This ensures that she will get airplay on many mainstream commercial stations, but it really adds nothing of value to her sound. I wonder why she would bother working with many of these people. There is no artistic reason for it. I can only assume it was to please the promoters and the Starbucks crowd to whom the CD is obviously directed. This is sad because the music ends up being like the coffee – palatable but bland. The few highlights on the CD are Kidjo’s collaboration with Malian stalwarts Amadou & Mariam and the tracks on which she is just backed up by her own band. The cover of Ravel's "Bolero" was initially intriguing, but it begged the question – do we really need it? The same could be said for this release.
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