Angelique Kidjo features Burna

Legendary Beninese singer, Angelique Kidjo joins forces with African stars, mostly Nigerians, in Mother Nature, her forthcoming album. Ferdinand Ekechukwu reports

Angélique Kidjo’s forthcoming album, Mother Nature, due June 18, will be her first of original music in seven years, following 2019’s album, Celia (a tribute to Afro-Cuban performer, Celia Cruz) and 2018’s remake of Talking Heads’ Remain In Light. Mother Nature finds the four-time Grammy-winner joining forces with some of the most captivating new voices across a number of genres in the African continent and its diaspora and represents a newly heightened awareness of her own musical legacy and remarkable influence she’s had on younger generations.

The slew of African music guests on the 13-song LP include Burna Boy, Sampa The Great, EarthGang, Mr Eazi, Yemi Alade, Salif Keita, Shungudzo, Zeynab, Lionel Loueke, Blue Lab Beats, and Ghetto Boy. Kidjo recently made this known via her Instagram page. According to the legendary singer, “Mother Nature” is a celebration of our planet. “I’m so proud to announce my new album, ‘Mother Nature’ coming June 18,” the popular Beninese singer and one of the greatest artistes in international music today announced.

“This album is a love letter to Mother Earth and all the values we hold dear: truth, trust, love, connection. If there’s anything the pandemic has taught us, it’s that we are all a part of the same ecosystem-this planet is all we have. I am very grateful to have so many guests joining me of the album: Yemi Alade, Burna Boy, Mr Eazi, Salif Keita, Shungudzo, Sampa The Great, Ghetto Boy, EarthGang, Zeynab Mathieu Chedid – M – Lionel Loueke and many more!” Kidjo then shares a video for her new song “Africa, One of a Kind,” featuring Mr Eazi and Salif Keita.

The track is an exuberant ode to both her own roots and those of the featured guest artist, Mr Eazi, in addition to the artiste behind the sample, Salif Keita. Of her new single, she said “Mr Eazi has composed for us a beautiful ode to the African continent! The sound and groove are inspired by contemporary Afrobeats but the song takes its roots in the great tradition of African songwriting. This is why it was so important to have Salif Keita singing his signature melody in the intro. Three generations of musicians are united here to celebrate the future of Africa.”

Mr Eazi’s contributions to the project in the “Africa, One of A Kind” track are anchored by a dynamic sampling of Salif Keita’s “Africa”, a song that Kidjo originally planned on performing in a curated Carnegie Hall series in March 2020 honouring 1960’s “Year of Africa” alongside Manu Dibango, before Dibango tragically passed from Covid-19. “Dignity,” collaboration with Yemi Alade, is a direct response to the youth-led uprising against Nigeria’s infamous Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

“Do Yourself” featuring Burna Boy is an empowerment anthem, a plea to put in work for the betterment of everyone. While some songs were inspired through in-depth conversations with her collaborators, for “Free & Equal” (featuring Zambian Sampa The Great), Angélique looked to the initial promise of equality in the Declaration of Independence and how the Black Lives Matter movement continues to fight for it.

A creative force with about thirteen albums to her name, Kidjo began writing Mother Nature album and it was created over the past year in quarantine.

Over the course of her three-decade-long career, Kidjo, 60, has dipped into the vast well of legendary artists and performers across the black diaspora — taking inspiration from South African artist and activist Miriam Makeba, Cuban salsa icon Celia Cruz, Aretha Franklin, and many more. She has collaborated with many of the continent’s greatest legends, from the bluesy stylings of Boubacar Traoré to Manu Dibango’s Cameroonian jazz saxophone lyricism.