Angelique Kidjo’s Remain In Light
When Angelique Kidjo plays Denver Botanic Gardens on Thursday, August 9, she will recast the Talking Heads classic album Remain In Light through an Afrobeat lens.
Angelique’s version of the album is now available on NPR’s First Listen ahead of its official release date on June 8. In his review, NPR’s Marcus J. Moore says “Thirty-eight years after the landmark album, Remain in Light gives new life to the original while further illustrating Kidjo’s grand majesty.”
When Talking Heads released the original Remain In Light, they acknowledged their indebtedness to the influence of Fela Kuti and Afrobeat music. Those influences gain strength and momentum in Angelique’s hands.
Angelique first heard Remain In Light in 1983 when the Benin-native lived in Paris. “I went to a party with some friends of mine and somebody started playing the song of the Talking Heads called “Once in a Lifetime,”” she told NPR in a recent interview. “And everybody was standing and dancing weird, and me, I was grooving. And I told them, “This is African music.””
Prepare to meet that groove in full force at Denver Botanic Gardens.