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Music CD - Angelique Kidjo: Black Ivory Soul
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Music CD: Black Ivory Soul
Artist: Angelique Kidjo
List Price: $11.98
Our Price: $3.98
Your Save: $ 8.00 ( 67% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Sony
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Tracks:
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1. Bahia
2. Iwoya (w/ Dave Matthews)
3. Olofoofo
4. Tumba
5. Black Ivory Soul
6. Refavela
7. Iemanja
8. Afirika
9. Okanbale
10. Ominira
11. Mondjuba
12. Ces Petits Riens
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0696998579927
Label: Sony
Manufacturer: Sony
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Sony
Release Date: 2002-03-19
Studio: Sony
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Kidjo world fusion
Comment: Is an interesting album, reflecting cultural emotions that extends through continents but penetrates your soul.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful new find
Comment: I heard her music over a crowd at a museum opening event and found the DJ to get the name of the musician. I just bought this CD as a first sample and I love it! I'm coming back for more Kidjo. If you love Latin and world music and want something for a great party atmosphere that is not over bearing, this is delightful!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Singer
Comment: This is a great and beautiful singer, her style is cool and uptempo, easy to listen to all day. I have all her CD's, I give this CD and "Logozo" a 4 score only because my favorite is "Oyaya!"
Customer Rating:
Summary: Have Passport, WILL travel
Comment: From Bahia to Refavela to Ces Petits Riens...the range of Angelique is astounding. The obvious next step is...to see her live in concert!
Customer Rating:
Summary: PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC, BLACK GIRL!
Comment:
BLACK IVORY SOUL by Angelique Kidjo was a 2004 birthday gift to me from one of my few true friends, Melanie. [Thanks, MelNel!] She was turned onto it by the receptionist at her dentist's office. Melanie immediately determined to get me a copy too, knowing that I'm the hippest, most soulful White dude this side of RESTAURANT 28 - an excellent soul food joint in Glendale, AZ. [restaurant28bbq.com] And did I like the music immediately? Did Louis Armstrong like red beans and rice? Does a bear like honey? Does Albert Pujols like a hanging curve ball? Does Terrill Owens like Donovan McNabb? (Oh, I guess I went too far.)
What I don't like is this bovine excrement that passes for music amongst our brain-dead youth today. (I call all of their bands `THE NAKED EMPERORS.') If it's not Bimbo Pop pap, it's Rap crap, or what's called "Alternative" (meaning: alternative to "music.") I don't buy music anymore; having an I.Q. over 50, I don't watch MTV; I don't go to dance clubs; and the only contemporary music [sic] I'm exposed to is through commercials and the half-wit sitting next to me at the red light. So although my familiarity with it has been limited, I'd say that Angelique Kidjo's BLACK IVORY SOUL is the best music yet to emerge from the 21st Century.
From the liner notes: "Kidjo has crossed musical boundaries by blending the tribal and pop rhythms of her native West African heritage with a variety of styles, including Funk, Salsa, and Jazz. On BLACK IVORY SOUL, Kidjo explores the musical and cultural kinship between Africa and Brazil, specifically her homeland and the province of Bahia."
Now, if that sounds like a real potpourri of influences, I can assure you that it does not come off as being some patchwork quilt of disparate styles. BLACK IVORY SOUL is a very unified and unique musical statement. The whole piece is tied together by intriguing , exotic rhythms and (though few of the lyrics are sung in English) the album is loaded with catchy melodies and hooks galore. It's as memorable as any Pop album ever created by an English-singing music stylist.
The musicianship - especially the drumming and percussion - is first-rate throughout, and Kidjo displays remarkable vocal control and an expressive instrument that conveys many emotional shadings regardless of language. Man, this is stellar stuff! You could dance to it, sing to it, contemplate to it. The only thing you won't be able to do is sleep to it; it's entirely too energetic for that. There's not a single track that I don't really like on BLACK IVORY SOUL, but if I had to pick a favorite, I'd probably side with OMINIRA. Thanks to the English translations provided in the accompanying booklet, I know that Angelique Kidjo is singing: "Everybody wants freedom / Everybody wants to find one's soulmate / Take my hand / I can promise you / Life will bring us freedom." From Kidjo's lips to God's Ears!
The only negative comment I have to make is directed at Dave Matthews who duets with Kidjo on IWOYA. While I like the song and also Dave's voice, it kind of irks me to hear him singing, "You don't have to be old to be wise / Don't you hear the baby crying?" I just happen to know that Dave Matthews associates with Planned Parenthood, and a few years ago his band did a benefit concert on behalf of that organization which is the nation's largest promoter of abortion. I've got a question for you Dave: How `bout you? Don't you hear the "unborn" baby crying?
Other than this "insensitive" singer/songwriter's participation, I really dig Angelique Kidjo's BLACK IVORY SOUL. It makes my own Irish / German / Scottish / American Indian soul sing. (I may be a mutt but I ain't no dog!) If you're the soulful sort and can appreciate great music regardless of its origin or the language of its lyrics, then you're gonna love BLACK IVORY SOUL, and I wouldn't Kidjo `bout that. (Ha! Sorry.)
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Editorial Reviews:
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Angélique Kidjo's previous albums have been decidedly patchy affairs, with tracks ranging from the sublime to the abysmal. With Black Ivory Soul, however, Kidjo strikes a lovely and generally consistent note. Exploring the connections between her native Benin and Brazil's Bahia region, she makes beautiful music flavored by two continents on songs such as "Tumba," with its crisp but subtle percussion driving a lilting melody, or "Afrika," where the cascading notes of the kora help bridge the Atlantic. Co-writing with talents like Carlinhos Brown and Vinícius Cantuária has helped; they've toned down the R&B influence than ran through Oremi and replaced it with something more individual. Kidjo sounds strongest when she's very rootsy, as on her cover of Gilberto Gil's "Refavela," which stands in stark contrast to the bland "Iwoya," a duet with Dave Matthews that sounds like nothing more than a calculated shot at radio airplay. Even the odd track out, a version of "Ces Petits Riens" by Serge Gainsbourg, works because of its spare delight. In following her muse and her history, Kidjo has produced her best work to date. --Chris Nickson
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