Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Angelique Kidjo, United Artists 2021.
Beninese singer/songwriter/actress and activist, Angelique Kidjo is a force of nature.
She’s been lauded by Time Magazine, sung at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Opening Ceremony and been included in the Time list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
She’s a multi-talented artist who traverses all genres of music from traditional African, through jazz, blues, Caribbean, Gospel, Latin, pop, and all combinations thereof.
She’s also fluent in five languages and sings in all of them.
Angolo was the single from her third album, Aye – that was released in 1994 and won her the first of her Grammy nomination.
This particular release is a six-track remix package giving us four different versions of Angolo and two of Wombo Wombo (from her 1995 Fifa album) by Uncle Disco, a shorter Edit and longer Club Remix.
The four Angolo mixes are by Da Capo’s Touch, Mazimela Radio Edit, Maeztro Remix and Mazimela Extended Edit.
It might seem at first glance that this album is for her millions of fans, and I’m sure that they will buy it in their droves, but for the casually interested music lover there is plenty to explore and enjoy in this release.
Each of the remixes provides a different take of the iconic songs.
The extended Mazimela radio version of Angolo provides a new intro to the track and then picks up from where the radio edit ended to basically double the length of the song.
I often find these extended plays made for the dance floor become tedious but didn’t feel so this time.
There is enough variety in the mix to keep us interested.
With African tribal underpinnings these tracks are made for the dance scene so if that is your thing you will enjoy these offerings.
