World Music

Artist Angelique Kidjo
Title OYO
Label Proper
Angelique Kidjo has been deemed "Africa’s premier diva" by Time Magazine, and the moniker speaks accurately to the singular career and life she has forged. Like Miriam Makeba was before her, Kidjo is the continent’s most internationally celebrated female musical exponent. And yet, the GRAMMY-winning artist has lived outside Africa for more than two decades. On her new album, Kidjo revisits the music that was instrumental in her artistic formation in Benin, the country whose communist dictatorship she fled in the early `80s.
Although Oyo is primarily comprised of covers, the music is instantly recognizable as Kidjo’s: The first thing one hears at the outset of the album is her breathtaking voice, long-sustaining the first word of "Zelie," a song written by Bella Bellow from Togo. There are various other African songs, including "Lakutshona Llanga," a lullaby made famous by Kidjo’s hero, Miriam Makeba, and the Beninese traditional song "Atcha Houn." Many tracks reveal the prevalence of American soul and funk in the port city of Cotonou, where Kidjo grew up. She duets with John Legend and is joined by the horns of Antibalas on Curtis Mayfield’s "Move On Up," offers Yoruban interpretations of Otis Redding’s "I’ve Got Dreams to Remember" and Santana’s "Samba Pa Ti," collaborates with Diane Reeves on the Aretha Franklin hit, "Baby I Love You," and also takes on James Brown’s "Cold Sweat."

Artist Konkoma
Title Konkoma
Label Soundway
KonKoma adds a progressive edge to their rich blend of Afro-funk, jazz, soul and traditional African rhythms as well as acknowledging the 70s recordings that spawned the sound. Guitarist Alfred Bannerman, founding member of teenage afro-rock band Boombaya (featured on the Soundway compilation Ghana Special) has remained one of the mainstays of the UK’s African music scene for more than 20 years. Keyboardist Emmanuel Rentzos has been playing alongside his fellow Ghanaian since the early 1970s when he was the lead singer of the young Ghanaian outfit Santrofi’s band.

Artist Fela Kuti
Title Lagos Baby 1963 - 1969
Label Vampi Soul
Fela Kuti (1938-1997) was the first and brightest African super star, and a music genious of colossal dimensions, considered by many the unrivalled king of African music for more than 30 years. What Vampisoul has the inmense pleasure to offer, as part of our ongoing African sonic exploration (Tony Allen, Orlando Julius, Highlife collection and more to come), is the musical birth of a MYTH and GIANT of world’s music. Features extensive notes by African specialist Max Reinhardt.