By Pip Hinman and Zanny Begg
She's been called the diva of world hip-hop and Afro-funk dance and the new international voice of Africa. But however you choose to describe Angelique Kidjo's music and song, her performance on September 15, the first stop on her second Australian tour, was both exhilarating and moving. From before she arrived on stage to the end of her performance, the aisles of Sydney's Convention Centre were jam-packed with people who couldn't stay in their seats.
Kidjo is a petite woman with presence. Her rich voice, flat-top cut and lycra body suit with a touch of African adornment are the hallmarks of this energetic woman, who is credited with bringing African music to a wider Western audience in a major way.
Kidjo was born in the impoverished west African country of Benin. She grew up in a musical family, and later moved to Paris where she started recording in earnest. Kidjo was raised on a diet of African and Western music: her mother led a traditional cultural dance troupe and her brothers, more interested in Western music, started up a band. People from musical backgrounds as diverse as Miriam Makeba and James Brown influenced her.
Kidjo says her music is about getting out her anger and emotion. This she certainly does. She has the extraordinary ability to look extremely angry, even fierce, and the next second to allow a smile to melt the frown away. Because all her songs are in Fon (the Beninois language, named after the largest of the ethnic groups which survived until the English, French and Portuguese slave trade began in the 17th century), Kidjo puts her energies into alternative ways of communicating her message.
So it is easy to be moved by her performance even while not understanding the lyrics. But her main theme is injustice. "When I was a little girl, it was the one thing that could drive me out of my mind. I used to fight a lot when I was at school, to protect others, especially when I saw a kid being beaten up by another. That's why I wanted to be a lawyer of human rights. I chose singing because when I studied law, I realised that the law is made by white people for white society. It was not made to defend black people."
Benin was once a resource-rich and self-sufficient country until the French declared a monopoly on the palm-oil trade and dismantled the ancient Fon state. When Benin (then called Dahomey) gained independence in 1960, oil-seed exports stood at 1850 levels while the population had tripled. The new government inherited a bankrupt economy and a corrupt infrastructure. A series of 12 military and civilian governments marked a 16-year-period of instability.
This is Kidjo's heritage. It is easy to understand the origin of songs such as "We We", which describes the violence of the state, and "Ekoleya" about war being a "high society game but the real losers are never the players", both on her earlier album Logozo.
Despite dealing with serious subject matter, Kidjo makes it clear that she is an optimist. "It doesn't matter how dirty and horrible this world is in which we are living, I still believe in love and human beings." In "Agolo" (Please), from her most recent album Aye, which means "life", she entreats people to be unselfish and generous. "Adouma" (Come and Get It) advises us to "be curious and alert" and to "keep our eyes and ears open to the differences to make our world keep turning".
Kidjo was supported by musicians from Senegal, France and the West Indies. Their ability to combine traditional and modern instruments, as well as melodies, has been key to making Kidjo's music so accessible. Kidjo herself studied classical music, French song form and jazz composition.
Kidjo's moving rendition of the famous Swahili love song "Malaika", which was popularised by Miriam Makeba in the 1970s, was received with huge applause, as was her finale, "Batonga", for which the whole auditorium was either dancing in their seats or on any available floor space. Kidjo's tour, sponsored by Big City, Triple J and Drum Media, takes her across the country in the next two weeks and shouldn't be missed. (Tour dates: September 20, City Hall, Hobart; September 21, Labour Club, Canberra; September 23, City Hall, Brisbane; September 24, Epicentre, Byron Bay; September 25, Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns.)