Celia
A preeminent singer not only in pan-African and world music but in Latin and pop generally, Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo first heard the music of Cuban salsa legend Celia Cruz as a teenager in 1974, when Cruz toured the continent after performing in conjunction with Muhammad Ali and George Foreman’s famous Rumble in the Jungle. *Celia*, in other words, has had some time to germinate. Kidjo’s arrangements expectedly play up the latent Africanness in Cruz’s music: the twinkling Congolese-style guitar of “Cucala,” the Ethio-jazz slant of “La Vida Es un Carnaval,” the tight Nigerian-style groove of “Toro Mata,” courtesy of longtime Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen. The result isn’t just a novel tribute to Cruz, but a sketch of an Afro-Cuban cultural exchange going back to the slave trade—a complicated legacy, but one that continues to produce some of the most beautiful music in the world.
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Kidjo’s album takes the songs of Celia Cruz and adds Afrobeat and other influences with stars including Tony Allen and Meshell Ndegeocello