With ‘Mother Nature,’ Angélique Kidjo Delivers a Beaming Ode to Africa

Adi Mehta

There are few artists who can convincingly take on the role of cultural ambassador, as few possess skill sets so comprehensive and voices so resonant as to warrant any posturing suggesting representation of a whole group. To pull it off, it takes someone like Angélique Kidjo. A polyglot who sings in English, French, and three African languages, Kidjo has an encyclopedic musical repertoire, drawing influences from such varied sources as Afrobeat, Latin music, and American jazz and soul. She has collaborated with everyone from Carlos Santana to Philip Glass, Herbie Hancock to John Legend. Her discography includes such ambitious works as 2014’s “Eve,” presented as a celebration of the African woman, and a 2018 track-by-track reimagination of Talking Heads’ “Remain In Light.” Kidjo has been a feminist role model and agent of positive change throughout the years, involving herself in a staggering number of activist causes. She founded the Batonga Foundation, which empowers vulnerable young women in her native country of Benin, providing them a means of resisting oppressive cultural norms and realizing their full potential. On her latest album, “Mother Nature,” Kidjo celebrates Africa as a whole, bringing together a roster of artists from its various countries for a festive outpouring that rallies behind social causes, promotes visions of unity, and celebrates African culture at large. 

The opener, “Choose Your Love,” pairs Kidjo with Zimbabwean-American singer Shungudzo, whose own new album is titled “I’m Not a Mother, But I Have Children,” making her a suitable collaborator to start off “Mother Nature.” Kidjo’s booming voice makes an instant impression, and continues to carry the music effortlessly for the album’s duration. The first track is almost a capella, with intricate, jazzy guitar lines running faintly underneath Kidjo’s dominant vocal, as Shungudzo enters whimsically in the high register, adding plenty of flair. Kidjo’s lyrics are uplifting fare, and her singsong melodies are fittingly bright. The album really takes off upon “Dignity,” as percussion enters, and a full Afrobeat sound first takes root. Over an insistent rhythm with killer hand drum fills and wailing saxophone, Kidjo trades lines with Nigerian Afropop singer Yemi Alede in a spirited shuffle. The refrain of “Respect is reciprocal” is delivered with a confidence that commands respect and is simultaneously kept at measure with a respectful modesty, as the band fills out the space in a festive, jubilant, jam.

Mr. Eazi, known for combining the music of his native Nigeria with the highlife styles of Ghana, is an appropriate feature for the pan-African excursion of “Africa, One of a Kind,” as is Malain singer Salif Keita, dubbed the “Golden Voice of Africa,” whose 1995 song “Africa” the track revisits. They alternate between lyrics in Bambara, Nigerian Pidgin, and Yoruba, with call and response chants over distinctly African guitar work. A bit with some thrilling off-kilter syncopation makes a case for Africa perhaps even more convincing than the three singers’ rallying cries. “Mother Nature,” an immediate standout, lives up to its role as title track. Kidjo’s voice especially shines here, as her pronouncements morph into raspy roars. Her voice leads decisively, and all instrumentation falls perfectly into place around her as she repeats, “Mother Nature has a way of warning us,” taking on the matriarchal role herself with her cautionary words.

Kidjo has long been a champion of Nigeria’s Burna Boy, expressing pride in the enormous success of a fellow African artist, and she recruits him for “Do Yourself.” Burna Boy sings gliding melodies, while Kidjo’s darts around him in more fiery, vertical lines over some infectious woodblock-type percussion and celebratory brass bits. “Meant For Me” sees the return of Shungudzo, and within seconds turns out one of the catchiest tunes. Kidjo can sound almost too wholesome as she runs through lyrics like “I don’t care if your money goes / I don’t care if your beauty fades” in a spirited chorus of voices, but she sings like she means it, sounding resolute in her affirmations, as always. “Omon Oba.” Zeynab shares vocal duties with Kidjo on “Omon Oba,” while Beninese artist Lionele Loueke contributes mellifluous, meshing guitar lines. On this track, the vocals are entirely in African languages, adding a new undiluted authenticity. “Free & Equal” features another standout, booming performance, while a rap verse from Zambian-born Sampa the Great adds an entirely new flavor. It’s the first full foray into hip-hop, and the Afrobeat rhythms carry Sampa’s rapping naturally in a vibrant mashing up of sounds. 

Kidjo brings back her rasp on the appropriately titled “Fired-Up.” Ghetto Boy rattles off some dancehall-style vocals while London jazztronica duo Blue-Lab Beats fill out the sound, adding a new dimension with their laidback, soulful stylings, as calls of “Ay” and “Oh” dart about a rippling percussive framework. On “Take It or Leave It,” Kidjo pronounces the titular ultimatum in an idiosyncratic meter, creating a snappy soundbyte than makes the song. She has a way of gently adding political overtones to simple, feelgood fare, and here she throws in some criticism of greed, around lighthearted lyrics that could be taken as a bold expression of female empowerment. There is another hip-hop escapade, courtesy of Atlanta duo Earthgang, and while the short feature fails to capture the group’s full dynamic eccentricity, it serves to spice things up a bit. “Mycelium” is a welcome departure, like nothing else on the album, as the straightforward, festive stylings that dominate every other track are supplanted by darker, dreamier sounds. Vaguely Eastern melodies take unpredictable turns and erupt into a sweeping, string-laden chorus.  

“One Africa (Indépendance Cha Cha)” is a rework of Joseph Kabasele’s “Indépendance Cha-Cha,” dating back to 1960, the “Year of Africa,” when it was written to celebrate the independence of the Belgian Congo. Kidjo speeds up the song and ditches the largely jazz stylings of the original in favor of a livelier, cheery rendition, full of gleeful voices concerted in twee singalongs. The song functions a bit like a reprise of “Africa, One of a Kind,” lending structure to the album. Finally, “Flying High” brings closure with its anthemic ring, sounding as spirited as its title suggests, and ending the record on as positive of a note as it began on, with Kidjo singing of “one love, one world,” and declaring, “Life is so beautiful.”

Such unabashed positivity can be a bit hard to take. It’s one thing when Kidjo sings about love, unity, and empowerment in sanguine singalongs that fit the subject matter. But when she sings about the injustices of the patriarchy and the oppression of colonialism in the same tone, to the same tunes, her outlandish, rather ill-fitting exuberance can seem somewhat awkward, especially since it’s employed without any trace of irony. Then again, this is consistent with the Afrobeat tradition. One thing that stood out about Fela Kuti’s protest songs is how they managed to turn dire circumstances into pure celebratory sounds, mobilizing people toward positive action the same way it compelled them toward the dancefloor. Kidjo does this throughout her new album, and pulls it off in a way that few could have managed, thanks to the energy she radiates. One can hear her righteous conviction and passion in her beaming, unflinching voice, from her first utterance on the album through her last. Moreover, she makes due on the central mission at the core of her lyrics — to elevate Africa — by recruiting a pan-African cast of performers that effectively demonstrate the rich diversity of the continent’s musical heritage.  

“Mother Nature” releases June 18 on Apple Music.