A worldwide icon, 4-time Grammy Award winner, BBC’s TOP 100 Most Inspiring and Influential Women. Known for her humanitarian efforts in the areas of education, women’s rights and environmental awareness Angélique returns with a new image and new sound. Produced by the Nigerian rising star producer Kel-P (Burna Boy, Wizkid, Future). Featuring Burna Boy, Yemi Alade, Wizkid, Mr Eazi and more.
Ibrahim Maalouf and Angélique Kidjo have announced that their new album Queen Of Sheba will be released June 24. While these two superstars of international music have collaborated before, this is their very first album together. Maalouf is a world-renowned trumpeter, composer and multi-instrumentalist who has sold out the biggest arena in his home country of France and was recently a musical guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Kidjo is a 5-time GRAMMY winner (winning Best Global Album for her latest album Mother Nature at the 2022 Awards) and recently named a Time 100 Most Influential Person.
Eve is Beninese singer/songwriter Angélique Kidjo's first recording in nearly four years. Its title is inspired literally by her mother Yvonne's nickname, and metaphorically for the Judeo-Christian heritage's first woman. It is "dedicated to the women of Africa: to their resilience and their beauty." Produced by Patrick Dillett, the album was recorded in the U.S., France, Luxembourg, and Africa. The cast of musicians is stellar: Lionel Loueke and Dominic James on guitars, Steve Jordan on drums, Christian McBride on bass, and Jean Hébrail on programming and arrangements, plus a slew of percussionists and keyboardists and a horn section. Guests include Rostam Batmagli (Vampire Weekend), Dr. John, Bernie Worrell, Nigerian singer ASA, the Kronos Quartet, Steven Bernstein, Stuart Bogie, and, on the sweeping, nearly transcendent "Awalole," the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg.
Angelique Kidjo has alienated some musicians and fans who want her to do traditional African music rather than mix and match her slashing delivery with rock, R&B and pop elements and arrangements. But Kidjo doesn't want to do a strictly African date. She recorded five numbers at Paisley Park studios, and they reflect the punchy guitar and synth-dominated Minneapolis sound. The other five tunes were recorded in London, with both a dance-soul flavor and nice horn backing and arrangements. Kidjo hasn't done a sellout album, despite singing in English on some cuts (another move designed to anger some of the hardcore). Rather, she's trying to link all her interests and do a respectable pop effort with some African elements.
On March 31, 2015, Kidjo released her collaboration with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. The album contains orchestral versions of 9 songs from previous albums and two original songs: Nanae and Otishe. All the songs are arranged by Gast Waltzing and David Laborier and the orchestra is conducted by Gast Waltzing. The Australian newspaper noted: "Kidjo opens what's arguably her most ambitious album by paying homage to her heroine, Miriam Makeba. None of her three previously released versions of Malaika can match the majesty and grandeur of this latest spine-tingling rendition, which features the singer in superlative voice (in Swahili) backed by the strings and wind instruments of the 110-piece Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. Elsewhere, the consummate guitar playing of Kidjo's compatriot Lionel Loueke and Brazilian Romero Lubambo augment conductor-trumpeter Gast Waltzing's sumptuous arrangements.