WEBVTT - Angelique Kidjo: Africa’s Premier Diva 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:28.516 Pushkin. According to Time magazine, singer an Joli Quijo is 0:00:28.556 --> 0:00:33.156 Africa's premiere diva. In addition to racking up prestigious accolades 0:00:33.156 --> 0:00:36.796 throughout her forty year career, Angelique has always leveraged her 0:00:36.796 --> 0:00:39.876 success to protect and educate young girls living in sub 0:00:39.916 --> 0:00:57.676 Saharan Africa. An Jolie Kuijo started out singing traditional music 0:00:57.716 --> 0:01:01.036 as a teenager in her native Benin, West Africa. In 0:01:01.156 --> 0:01:04.916 nineteen eighty three, she escapes the conflict riddled Benin for Paris, 0:01:05.276 --> 0:01:08.556 where she studied music and eventually married a French music producer. 0:01:09.116 --> 0:01:12.796 Angelique became one of Paris's most popular live performers, and 0:01:12.836 --> 0:01:15.836 in nineteen ninety one she signed her first record deal 0:01:15.956 --> 0:01:21.076 with Island Records. Angelika since released sixteen alums and won 0:01:21.196 --> 0:01:25.756 four World Music Grammys. Her latest album, Mother Nature, was 0:01:25.796 --> 0:01:29.596 released in June and features young African musicians like Sampa 0:01:29.676 --> 0:01:33.996 the Great and Burna Boy. On today's episode, Bruce Headlam 0:01:34.036 --> 0:01:36.996 talks to Angeli Quijo about the nature of African rhythm 0:01:37.276 --> 0:01:40.956 and why I can confuse Western musicians. She also explains 0:01:40.956 --> 0:01:43.596 how she lets her songs dictate what language her lyrics 0:01:43.636 --> 0:01:46.276 should be and how she managed to escape her home 0:01:46.316 --> 0:01:54.156 country despite being a recognizable national pop star. This is 0:01:54.196 --> 0:01:57.956 broken record liner notes for the digital age. I'm justin Richmondtin. 0:02:02.876 --> 0:02:06.956 Here's Bruce Headlam with Angeli Quijo. It is so nice 0:02:06.956 --> 0:02:09.356 to have you here. Do I need my headphone? No, 0:02:09.596 --> 0:02:12.796 I don't think so. You don't like headphones. I hate studios. 0:02:12.956 --> 0:02:15.796 I only like stage. You don't like studios. I mean 0:02:15.956 --> 0:02:18.676 I come from a culture where you want to play, 0:02:18.796 --> 0:02:21.876 just get drums out, and you have phoney people coming around. 0:02:21.956 --> 0:02:23.916 I start on stage when I was six years old. 0:02:24.156 --> 0:02:26.996 I was twenty when I first step step be food 0:02:27.036 --> 0:02:28.956 in the studio and I hated it. I was doing 0:02:28.956 --> 0:02:31.076 my first album and I have to record from ten 0:02:31.116 --> 0:02:34.036 am in the morning to eight pm doing all the songs. 0:02:34.076 --> 0:02:36.556 The producer was not there. I was just left alone 0:02:36.596 --> 0:02:41.476 with the sound engineer doing the backing and everything. Getting 0:02:41.516 --> 0:02:43.116 there and I get out there's no son. I'm like, 0:02:43.156 --> 0:02:45.476 what kind of world is that? I'm not a cave woman. 0:02:45.676 --> 0:02:47.476 I want to be out. I don't want to be 0:02:47.516 --> 0:02:49.756 singing to the wall. I want to sing to somebody 0:02:49.996 --> 0:02:53.076 that You've done fifteen albums at least since then. Yeah, 0:02:53.196 --> 0:02:56.316 do you try and record in different kinds of studios 0:02:56.396 --> 0:02:58.916 or you. Oh yeah, I tried recording spaces that aren't 0:02:58.956 --> 0:03:01.756 studio like the thing is. In two thousand, I decided 0:03:01.836 --> 0:03:05.436 it was enough of going to the studio and prepare editing. 0:03:05.476 --> 0:03:07.676 I want everybody in the same room. So when I 0:03:07.676 --> 0:03:11.676 have the musician with me, it is great and I 0:03:11.796 --> 0:03:14.396 like that now. When I did my album Ginging with 0:03:14.956 --> 0:03:17.636 Tony Viscountry, He's like, I haven't done this kind of 0:03:17.636 --> 0:03:20.596 album since the sixties. When you opened my voice, the 0:03:20.756 --> 0:03:23.036 drums and everybody, I said, that's if you want me 0:03:23.116 --> 0:03:26.876 to perform the album, you better get me the studio 0:03:26.956 --> 0:03:30.036 where I feel like all in my living room or 0:03:30.076 --> 0:03:32.516 out or something. I just can't do it like that. 0:03:32.596 --> 0:03:35.556 So we went to Electric Lady and he brought in lamp. 0:03:35.636 --> 0:03:38.796 It was like a souk in Marrakesh and the musician 0:03:38.836 --> 0:03:43.316 with all their people, benin his percussion players, Pugibell on 0:03:43.436 --> 0:03:47.756 drums and Fiddler on keyboard. It was like one of 0:03:47.756 --> 0:03:51.476 my best memorial studio. We had lots of fun to school. 0:03:51.596 --> 0:03:54.196 The album finished, I'm like, is it over? Yeah, it's over. 0:03:54.356 --> 0:03:56.516 Two weeks. I didn't see he passed by, so I 0:03:56.556 --> 0:03:59.956 loved it. And you know he'd produced David Bowie, he'd 0:03:59.956 --> 0:04:02.436 produced everybody. Yeah, never done it like that. He never 0:04:02.476 --> 0:04:04.236 just had all the musicians, he said, I didn't do 0:04:04.276 --> 0:04:07.876 it since the sixties. Yes, And I said, well, are 0:04:07.876 --> 0:04:10.036 you gonna follow me in that one? Because I was 0:04:10.076 --> 0:04:13.516 bringing the traditional percussional player from being in and we 0:04:13.636 --> 0:04:16.476 have to rehearse before in his life. Are you sure 0:04:16.516 --> 0:04:19.076 we need all this? He was a little nervous. He 0:04:19.116 --> 0:04:22.436 looked completely worried, as aid, Tony, Chill, it's gonna be 0:04:22.476 --> 0:04:25.996 all right, and he go okay, and he's not the calabash. 0:04:26.036 --> 0:04:28.396 I was explaining to him that we have a rhythm 0:04:28.796 --> 0:04:31.796 that we play with calabash in the water in the buckets, 0:04:32.276 --> 0:04:35.196 and when he heard the sound, this smight just lead 0:04:35.276 --> 0:04:39.116 up his face. I'm like, you're seeing possibilities and he goes, 0:04:39.396 --> 0:04:42.196 oh yeah. I said, where till we get to the studio, man, 0:04:42.396 --> 0:04:45.916 let them play the folded carbell for you. There's folded carver, 0:04:46.196 --> 0:04:48.836 I say, they have tons of different kind of carbell. 0:04:49.356 --> 0:04:52.036 So we're gonna make it easy for you. Just play 0:04:52.076 --> 0:04:55.276 the music and you do your arrangement, you do your producing. 0:04:55.356 --> 0:04:57.876 And that wasn't so you said there's a particular rhythm 0:04:57.876 --> 0:05:00.956 that's played on that cowbell. Can you explain what that 0:05:01.076 --> 0:05:03.716 rhythm is? The fact that the carbell is folded like 0:05:03.756 --> 0:05:07.036 a paper, so the rhythm goes both ways. And sometimes 0:05:07.196 --> 0:05:09.956 they put it on the head to played. Sometimes they 0:05:09.996 --> 0:05:12.316 put in the hand, but they can't keep their hand flat. 0:05:12.356 --> 0:05:16.316 They need the resonance. And it has distinctive sound, very clear, 0:05:16.876 --> 0:05:25.836 not too high. It has body and take getting and 0:05:26.316 --> 0:05:27.996 he has like I never heard a sound of carbe 0:05:28.116 --> 0:05:30.636 like this, But I'm like, hey that terms of them 0:05:30.716 --> 0:05:33.916 vers you have sainphonies of carbell in the village is 0:05:33.916 --> 0:05:37.396 where you have from the smallest one to the biggest one. 0:05:38.236 --> 0:05:41.436 It's huge and it's played on the ground and it's 0:05:41.436 --> 0:05:43.676 a wall of sound that you just get into the village. 0:05:43.756 --> 0:05:46.916 Stop playing, you go WHOA Okay? Why are there so 0:05:46.956 --> 0:05:50.756 many cowpels. Every village have their own rhythm. That's the 0:05:50.796 --> 0:05:55.196 complexity of my country, almost twelve million people. When you 0:05:55.236 --> 0:05:57.756 go from one village to the other, the rhythm is 0:05:57.796 --> 0:06:00.316 completely different, The drums are completely different. And there is 0:06:00.316 --> 0:06:02.156 a village in the southern part of Being where I 0:06:02.236 --> 0:06:05.236 come from, called a Jah, where from father to son 0:06:05.956 --> 0:06:08.156 they are taught how to make the drum. You pick 0:06:08.236 --> 0:06:10.396 the tree and in the back of tree and they 0:06:10.436 --> 0:06:12.396 do the drum you want for you. First of all, 0:06:12.436 --> 0:06:15.756 you said, you know, every town has their own rhythm, 0:06:15.836 --> 0:06:19.196 their own sense of music. What was and your town 0:06:19.396 --> 0:06:23.276 was got I grew up in the economic capital of Beling. 0:06:23.516 --> 0:06:26.636 What was your town's music? My town with music was 0:06:26.636 --> 0:06:30.316 a cosmopolitan music town, because that's where you have all 0:06:30.396 --> 0:06:35.436 the band, the Belines band, Polyrithmo or elrego Na Spedule, 0:06:35.636 --> 0:06:38.276 all of those guys. But the thing that is interesting 0:06:38.356 --> 0:06:41.356 for when it comes to rhythm is that you grow 0:06:41.436 --> 0:06:45.996 up in it. Everywhere you go there's rhythm. Not one 0:06:46.036 --> 0:06:48.876 person in Africa will tell you I don't know how 0:06:48.916 --> 0:06:51.156 to dance unless they don't want to dance, because they 0:06:51.236 --> 0:06:53.636 know how to put the time on. Our body was 0:06:53.676 --> 0:06:56.676 an instrument too. The men are a naked from the 0:06:56.756 --> 0:06:59.516 shoulder from the head to the waist, and they have 0:06:59.596 --> 0:07:03.636 buckets of water so they play. It depends, it depends 0:07:03.676 --> 0:07:05.476 if they want difference sown. They put the water on 0:07:05.516 --> 0:07:08.716 themselves and they play. Is an amazing rhythm is called 0:07:08.716 --> 0:07:11.396 a chown. And the way they just go and doing 0:07:11.396 --> 0:07:14.476 the singing at the same time, you just you mesme, 0:07:14.796 --> 0:07:16.756 can you just clap out? What that rhythm would be? 0:07:16.796 --> 0:07:28.356 Like the corbell is doing this to bo bo boom boo. 0:07:28.516 --> 0:07:31.596 All the bodies just play and then you go. And 0:07:31.596 --> 0:07:34.196 when it is that they start spitting is because somebody's 0:07:34.236 --> 0:07:37.996 dancing the word. One thing that is really interesting in 0:07:38.076 --> 0:07:41.196 the traditional music in my country, and I think pretty 0:07:41.276 --> 0:07:45.436 much everywhere in Africa you're playing, the rhythm you dancing 0:07:45.636 --> 0:07:49.516 is always in a circle or semi circle. So you 0:07:49.636 --> 0:07:53.396 have somebody start the song, the people start answering, the 0:07:53.476 --> 0:07:56.596 carbir comes in, and the drum comes in and the 0:07:56.756 --> 0:08:00.276 rhythm is set. Then when the dancer comes into circle, 0:08:01.076 --> 0:08:04.676 then the drums start looking at the foot of the dancers. 0:08:04.716 --> 0:08:07.236 The dancer that dictates if the rhythm is gonna be 0:08:07.316 --> 0:08:10.636 faster or slower. You tell a very funny story in 0:08:10.636 --> 0:08:13.996 your autobiography, and this is years later after he met 0:08:14.076 --> 0:08:18.196 your husband. You would be singing traditional songs and talking 0:08:18.196 --> 0:08:20.676 about rhythm and he just kept saying, just tell me 0:08:20.716 --> 0:08:23.316 where the downbeat is and you're like, yeah, it doesn't 0:08:23.316 --> 0:08:28.836 work that way. How did you guys ever figure that out? 0:08:29.036 --> 0:08:34.316 I mean, the thing is till he arrived and start 0:08:34.436 --> 0:08:38.916 digging deep in the traditional music. He had hard time 0:08:40.156 --> 0:08:42.996 because he's come from a cultural one two three four 0:08:43.076 --> 0:08:46.116 one two three four, you count the time, all right, 0:08:46.596 --> 0:08:52.236 And then finally he goes, actually is a cycle. It's 0:08:52.276 --> 0:08:54.636 always a cycle. It's going on around and around. That's 0:08:54.676 --> 0:08:57.676 what creates a trends. And it's a language also that 0:08:57.756 --> 0:09:01.356 you have to learn. Because he witnessed that. So the 0:09:01.436 --> 0:09:04.436 person that is playing the carbell, he wants to go 0:09:04.476 --> 0:09:07.356 to the restroom. Somebody picked up the carbell exactly where 0:09:07.356 --> 0:09:10.236 he stopped and it goes. He continued, we are fed 0:09:10.276 --> 0:09:14.716 with that, we're living that, it's in our breathing is 0:09:14.796 --> 0:09:19.836 everything because music is an essential part for being and 0:09:19.876 --> 0:09:22.996 he has to understand it. That's a different mindset from 0:09:22.996 --> 0:09:26.276 the Western world and us in Africa. It's all about 0:09:26.356 --> 0:09:29.676 the instinct. It's all about how we feel from the 0:09:29.716 --> 0:09:31.636 bottom of our feet all the way to the head. 0:09:31.916 --> 0:09:34.236 And my husband when I used to explain all that 0:09:34.356 --> 0:09:37.236 to him, that we are not a tradition of recording. 0:09:38.076 --> 0:09:41.756 And when we were traveling and recording rhythm, I said, 0:09:41.876 --> 0:09:44.516 one day you're gonna get the question. Is that now 0:09:44.676 --> 0:09:47.396 everybody's used to recording? I said, nope. So when the 0:09:47.556 --> 0:09:50.596 guy came. The guy was standing up looking at us like, 0:09:50.916 --> 0:09:54.036 these white people are crazy, man, what is all this thing? 0:09:54.556 --> 0:09:56.476 And we didn't have electricity most of the time. We 0:09:56.596 --> 0:10:00.916 plug the instruments on the car battery. It's crazy, right. 0:10:01.476 --> 0:10:04.676 So the guy came in and and tap the shoulder 0:10:04.676 --> 0:10:08.316 of my husband and said, what are you doing? What 0:10:08.476 --> 0:10:11.156 is the green? What is the red light? I saw 0:10:11.276 --> 0:10:14.556 sometimes you put in green, sometime it's red. And John said, 0:10:14.556 --> 0:10:16.596 when it's red, it's means to be a recording. And 0:10:16.636 --> 0:10:19.196 when he's green with listening, and he's stayed back and 0:10:19.276 --> 0:10:22.276 look at him, saying, why you want to record something 0:10:22.276 --> 0:10:24.236 that we can play for you endless see that you 0:10:24.236 --> 0:10:29.076 can listen to all the time. And I look at 0:10:29.116 --> 0:10:31.276 my husband. He looked at me. I said, I told 0:10:31.316 --> 0:10:33.836 you so, Yeah, you thought I was making it up. 0:10:34.156 --> 0:10:37.036 That's it for you. I mean. And people have to dress, 0:10:37.156 --> 0:10:39.916 they just they just cannot take the dress the drums 0:10:39.916 --> 0:10:41.796 start playing. They have to be ready. I mean, there's 0:10:41.836 --> 0:10:43.676 no question asked about it. Why you have to be 0:10:44.276 --> 0:10:47.756 clean and sharp dressed to play the drums. It is 0:10:47.756 --> 0:10:50.836 because you are giving something. You are talking to people 0:10:50.876 --> 0:10:53.236 fo the drums and the drums are inviting people to 0:10:53.276 --> 0:10:56.796 be part of something. It's the moment, because we believe 0:10:56.916 --> 0:11:01.796 deeply that every moment should be leave to the fullest 0:11:01.836 --> 0:11:03.676 because we don't know if we're gonna be here tomorrow. 0:11:03.916 --> 0:11:07.156 So every time we bring the drums out, whatever the circumstances, 0:11:07.196 --> 0:11:09.396 so I can't be baptism. Even when somebody passed away, 0:11:09.516 --> 0:11:12.876 we sing the person to the grave and we celebrate 0:11:12.916 --> 0:11:14.636 the memory, the good memory and the bad memory of 0:11:14.676 --> 0:11:17.156 the person, because it's like a part of us that 0:11:17.356 --> 0:11:19.596 is gone, but that partly we're gonna keep it. So 0:11:19.596 --> 0:11:21.716 we're gonna celebrate. And when my mom passed away in 0:11:21.796 --> 0:11:25.076 last June, she always used to tell us the day 0:11:25.076 --> 0:11:27.236 I die, and I want you to sing my Lika 0:11:27.396 --> 0:11:30.236 for me. I said, Mom, I'm gonna do that. She said, 0:11:30.236 --> 0:11:32.636 even if you're crying. I want that in my ears 0:11:32.676 --> 0:11:35.476 before you put me in a caffin. So I did, 0:11:35.556 --> 0:11:37.276 which was really hard for me to do. I didn't 0:11:37.276 --> 0:11:40.276 couldn't even finish the song. But she really summoned us 0:11:40.276 --> 0:11:42.756 and said, I don't want anybody to wear black, and 0:11:42.796 --> 0:11:44.276 I don't want you to be crying. I want you 0:11:44.316 --> 0:11:47.076 to play music all the time. Play me some fune 0:11:47.316 --> 0:11:49.836 some R and B, some hip hop, all kind of 0:11:49.916 --> 0:11:52.476 music that she dares to. People are looking at us, like, 0:11:53.476 --> 0:11:56.156 your mom just diing, you're having fun. You guys are crazy. 0:11:56.316 --> 0:11:58.796 Some people make comment saying that I lost my soul 0:11:58.796 --> 0:12:00.396 because I was dancing, and I'm like, that's what my 0:12:00.476 --> 0:12:02.916 mom wants. We liked it or not. As hard as 0:12:02.956 --> 0:12:06.516 it was for us her children, we didn't have the 0:12:06.596 --> 0:12:08.276 choice but to do what she asked us to do, 0:12:08.396 --> 0:12:10.756 even though we were all in pain or on tears 0:12:10.796 --> 0:12:13.796 and crying. We did because that's the person my mom is. 0:12:14.076 --> 0:12:18.636 She's very artistic. She loved theater, she loved music. She 0:12:18.756 --> 0:12:20.956 taught me how to sing, how to dress all my 0:12:21.036 --> 0:12:23.236 stage outfit. When I was a little girl, she would 0:12:23.236 --> 0:12:26.996 go to the extent of finding different fabric, telling me, well, 0:12:27.236 --> 0:12:29.716 you can't wear your everyday clothes. People wear them all 0:12:29.716 --> 0:12:31.916 the time. When you're on stage, not only you singing, 0:12:32.156 --> 0:12:34.396 you are performing, you have to see you in different gowns. 0:12:34.716 --> 0:12:37.996 We should say, your mom ran a theater. Yes, yes, 0:12:38.276 --> 0:12:40.916 she ran the largest theater in West Africa till today. 0:12:41.516 --> 0:12:45.476 And what was interesting in my upbringing is the fact 0:12:45.516 --> 0:12:51.236 that my parents the love of music, for art in general, 0:12:51.516 --> 0:12:55.916 and their passion also for sport were combined because they 0:12:55.996 --> 0:12:59.596 always said, whatever instrument you play, even with your voice, 0:12:59.596 --> 0:13:01.836 you anybody, your body needs to be in fit. You 0:13:01.916 --> 0:13:04.716 need to work out to be able to to have 0:13:04.876 --> 0:13:08.636 a healthy life. And me, I was born with asthma, 0:13:08.756 --> 0:13:12.516 so so I start running fifteen meters in athletic club 0:13:12.636 --> 0:13:15.036 in Benin and start swimming. People are telling my parents 0:13:15.036 --> 0:13:17.076 you're Chris. You're gonna kill your child and my mom 0:13:17.116 --> 0:13:19.276 dad said, no, she has to strengthen her length. I 0:13:19.516 --> 0:13:21.916 step by steps, she's gonna be able to have a 0:13:21.956 --> 0:13:24.916 normal life, not being crippled by asthma. My mom and 0:13:24.996 --> 0:13:27.836 dad also we bring us all kinds of music. If 0:13:27.836 --> 0:13:30.516 the music is this, someone on this planet, they find 0:13:30.556 --> 0:13:33.116 it and they bring it. Is it true your dad 0:13:33.596 --> 0:13:36.716 bought a bunch of instruments because he wanted your brothers 0:13:36.716 --> 0:13:39.316 to be like the Jackson five. My father managed to 0:13:39.356 --> 0:13:42.516 take a loan to buy the instruments and didn't tell 0:13:42.556 --> 0:13:45.676 anything to my mom, no to my brothers. My mom 0:13:45.756 --> 0:13:47.676 was pissed off. He said, how are you gonna pay 0:13:47.716 --> 0:13:51.276 for this? My dad said, don't worry about it. We'll 0:13:51.356 --> 0:13:55.916 find a way to play it. And while my older 0:13:55.956 --> 0:13:59.476 brother was a nasturale musician. He taught himself to play 0:13:59.516 --> 0:14:03.436 all the instruments he can play, keyboard, guitar, bass, drum, 0:14:03.876 --> 0:14:05.996 whatever you bring put in his hand, he would play. 0:14:06.836 --> 0:14:10.356 And my mom and dad loved me. Basically, my mom 0:14:10.436 --> 0:14:12.156 used to play when she was in high school in 0:14:12.156 --> 0:14:14.356 the band where she played the clarinet and sayings too. 0:14:15.196 --> 0:14:17.516 But the thing is, my father was that kind of 0:14:17.636 --> 0:14:22.396 person that believe that the world, as big as it is, 0:14:23.916 --> 0:14:26.156 he can bring part of it to us through music 0:14:26.156 --> 0:14:29.396 and culture in general, and always urge us to think 0:14:29.436 --> 0:14:33.196 beyond the door of the house, saying to us, when 0:14:33.196 --> 0:14:36.356 you get out of here, you're a citizen of this world, 0:14:36.716 --> 0:14:39.636 and I hope I've given you enough tool for you 0:14:39.716 --> 0:14:43.476 to live in this diverse world and challenging world we're living. 0:14:43.916 --> 0:14:47.796 So music was part of that too, because sometimes he 0:14:47.836 --> 0:14:51.516 would bring some stuff, weird music sometimes, But when he 0:14:51.556 --> 0:14:55.316 started bringing classical music, were life that what is this? 0:14:55.716 --> 0:15:01.556 Especially me? I said that music has no reason to us. 0:15:02.076 --> 0:15:03.916 I think it was Beethove, and I don't know which 0:15:03.956 --> 0:15:06.996 one he brought them, Like, man, Dad, we can't dance 0:15:07.036 --> 0:15:12.716 on that now. How did you discover that you had 0:15:13.716 --> 0:15:17.196 this powerhouse? Voice, because you know, one of your heroes 0:15:17.236 --> 0:15:20.636 growing up was Aretha Franklin. You had the amazing Grace record. 0:15:20.756 --> 0:15:22.636 You know, she at the church. That's where she found 0:15:22.676 --> 0:15:24.996 out she could sing like that. How did you find 0:15:24.996 --> 0:15:29.196 out that you had this booming voice? My father used 0:15:29.236 --> 0:15:32.996 to say to me when people asked that question, how 0:15:33.076 --> 0:15:35.876 come your daughter is singing? My first? I can't tell 0:15:35.916 --> 0:15:38.756 you what I remember when she starts speaking, she would 0:15:38.756 --> 0:15:41.636 be talking to me singing. I started singing before I 0:15:41.676 --> 0:15:45.196 started making phrases, just because I was surrounded by song. 0:15:45.756 --> 0:15:48.116 There's always ceremony somewhere, and I'll be sitting on the 0:15:48.196 --> 0:15:50.876 lap of my mom and I'll be clapping my hand. 0:15:50.916 --> 0:15:52.676 When I was two or three years or not understanding 0:15:52.716 --> 0:15:56.876 anything about anything, and I developed that musical memory, not 0:15:57.076 --> 0:16:00.556 knowing that I was gonna be a singer, because till 0:16:00.596 --> 0:16:03.356 I make the leap to be a singer, I wanted 0:16:03.396 --> 0:16:05.796 to be a human right lawyer or a surgeon. Your 0:16:05.796 --> 0:16:10.436 country was under a communist dictatorship, and in a strange way, 0:16:10.716 --> 0:16:13.676 it almost helped you in music at first, because they 0:16:13.716 --> 0:16:16.636 declared everybody had to have like a cooperative they called 0:16:16.636 --> 0:16:18.476 it at school, and so you formed the band that 0:16:18.596 --> 0:16:23.316 was called the Sphinx. So we start playing the thing 0:16:23.396 --> 0:16:25.996 that was not clear about that we were making. The 0:16:25.996 --> 0:16:29.116 head of the high school allowed us to do that 0:16:29.316 --> 0:16:32.516 because it was imposed by the government. But what does 0:16:32.596 --> 0:16:35.036 the money go? Because they sell tickets and we were 0:16:35.076 --> 0:16:38.556 not paid, why does the money go? So we don't 0:16:38.596 --> 0:16:41.156 know what the money goes. But we figured out that 0:16:41.196 --> 0:16:42.876 the head of the school was taking the money to 0:16:42.876 --> 0:16:48.996 build his house nice and I'm like, okay, enough for 0:16:49.116 --> 0:16:51.876 this nonsense. I mean, two years before I finished high school, 0:16:51.876 --> 0:16:54.036 I'm saying, I said to myself enough, I'll do my 0:16:54.076 --> 0:16:56.316 own stuff and I'll be paid. I don't want to 0:16:56.316 --> 0:16:59.156 do this anymore. We'll be right back with more from 0:16:59.196 --> 0:17:07.596 Angelique Kijo after a quick break. We're back with Angelique Kijo. 0:17:08.756 --> 0:17:12.556 When you were listening to Western albums when you were 0:17:12.596 --> 0:17:14.596 a kid, because you always had music in the house. 0:17:15.276 --> 0:17:18.476 You mentioned James Brown, you really liked Curtis Mayfield. I 0:17:18.476 --> 0:17:21.516 think did it sound stilted? You did it sound like one, two, 0:17:21.556 --> 0:17:23.836 three four? Did it sound western? Or did you hear 0:17:23.876 --> 0:17:26.956 your music in it? Africa is the James Brown is 0:17:26.956 --> 0:17:29.076 the first one that put the beat first beat on there. 0:17:29.396 --> 0:17:33.076 He changed a lot of things. And for me, as 0:17:33.116 --> 0:17:35.676 an African young little girl, when I first heard James 0:17:35.716 --> 0:17:39.836 Brown like, it's not only the rhythm that attract me 0:17:39.876 --> 0:17:46.116 to him, is how he plays his voice. He made 0:17:46.396 --> 0:17:51.196 the English language rhythmic for me. Till then it was 0:17:51.276 --> 0:17:54.716 another language like others, and I was not paying that 0:17:54.836 --> 0:17:56.916 much attention to it in school when I was learning it. 0:17:57.716 --> 0:18:00.436 And from the moment I started hearing James Brown sing 0:18:00.556 --> 0:18:03.756 in English, I'm like God, singly like this guy because 0:18:03.796 --> 0:18:06.956 I love rhythm. You speak and sing and I think 0:18:06.956 --> 0:18:10.516 at least five languages. Yes, Indeed, is English a harder 0:18:10.596 --> 0:18:13.836 language to be rhythmic in? No, it's easy. It's easier 0:18:13.836 --> 0:18:16.836 than in French. French is more, much more complicated. The 0:18:16.956 --> 0:18:21.396 difference is how can I say this? The English language 0:18:21.916 --> 0:18:25.796 you can say things with one word, and the same 0:18:25.836 --> 0:18:28.836 thing you say in one word in English you need 0:18:28.916 --> 0:18:32.996 two or three. In France it's more descriptive the French language, 0:18:33.596 --> 0:18:37.356 and the sounds are not the same. The vowel or 0:18:37.436 --> 0:18:40.876 constoms are not pronounced the same. How does that compare? Then, 0:18:41.316 --> 0:18:45.076 your father was so you spoke that language, yeah, and 0:18:45.156 --> 0:18:49.916 your mother was Yoruba and phon both. It's absolutely not 0:18:49.956 --> 0:18:52.036 the same sound at all. How do they compare in 0:18:52.116 --> 0:18:55.316 terms of singing in those languages, it's different. For example, 0:18:55.316 --> 0:18:59.556 if you want to say good morning in Yoruba and 0:18:59.756 --> 0:19:07.716 in font it's already it's Ecaro, it's already singing. And 0:19:07.916 --> 0:19:11.076 Phon is the anguage of the Amazon, so it is 0:19:11.156 --> 0:19:14.196 a language of power. Every time I go back to 0:19:14.236 --> 0:19:17.476 being in and I start speaking, people turn around and 0:19:17.516 --> 0:19:20.716 look at me, like, you've left this country for how long? 0:19:20.756 --> 0:19:22.516 And you speak this long better than us? I said, 0:19:22.516 --> 0:19:25.316 because I live in the complexity of this language. Time 0:19:25.356 --> 0:19:27.876 I'm trying to write a song, as you're writing, does 0:19:27.876 --> 0:19:30.836 it naturally occur to you? It fits this language? You know? 0:19:30.956 --> 0:19:34.636 Sometimes I'm inspired to sing something in all the language. 0:19:34.676 --> 0:19:37.076 I mean, when I was prepared the album Modern Nature 0:19:37.156 --> 0:19:39.876 versus song on my demo that didn't make it to 0:19:39.916 --> 0:19:42.676 the album, we were composing it and I was writing it. 0:19:43.236 --> 0:19:45.796 I said to me, it comes like had to be Portuguese. 0:19:46.796 --> 0:19:50.076 No other language was fitting into this. So I wrote 0:19:50.276 --> 0:19:53.236 my stuff and I put in Google Translation and start 0:19:53.276 --> 0:19:55.756 singing Portuguese. And I call my friend and say, is 0:19:55.796 --> 0:19:57.636 this right? This is what I'm trying to say. So 0:19:57.676 --> 0:20:01.556 she corrected it and it fits perfectly, So I just 0:20:01.676 --> 0:20:05.076 follow what comes with the song. I don't know what 0:20:05.156 --> 0:20:08.316 it's going to be. I don't have any control on 0:20:08.396 --> 0:20:12.836 my inspiration. And that's something that I realize and I 0:20:12.956 --> 0:20:15.636 learn hardly. When I'm in spiled to do something that 0:20:15.876 --> 0:20:17.916 I will record it and I'll put it aside and 0:20:17.916 --> 0:20:20.276 I try to make something beautifully fitted to it. It 0:20:20.316 --> 0:20:24.476 doesn't work. And when it hits me that less is more, 0:20:25.876 --> 0:20:28.596 that's when I realized that the thing that comes first, 0:20:28.836 --> 0:20:31.636 the thing that burst out of you, you gotta keep that. 0:20:32.316 --> 0:20:36.196 You gotta keep it into that integrity of the thing, 0:20:36.316 --> 0:20:41.636 otherwise it doesn't sound right. When did you learn that? Lesson? Oh, 0:20:41.676 --> 0:20:44.476 I was writing music since I was eleven years old. 0:20:44.716 --> 0:20:50.236 I read Verse and I'm like, something not working. I'm 0:20:50.236 --> 0:20:53.476 trying too hard. It's not what I wanted to say 0:20:53.516 --> 0:20:55.236 at the beginning. Then I'll go back and say, let 0:20:55.236 --> 0:20:57.436 me try what I say. And when I when I 0:20:57.556 --> 0:20:59.756 close to it, then I find my lyrics and I 0:20:59.796 --> 0:21:03.316 find my melody in my rhythm too, because the rhythm 0:21:03.396 --> 0:21:05.956 is there in the world. The rhythms are there. Everything 0:21:06.196 --> 0:21:11.076 comes if you listen carefully to your furation. Everything is 0:21:11.116 --> 0:21:14.476 already lay out for you and all the rest. It's 0:21:14.556 --> 0:21:18.236 just ornament. When you were growing up, you were teased 0:21:18.276 --> 0:21:21.636 for singing? Was it? It was mainly men who sang 0:21:21.836 --> 0:21:26.156 and boys, men and girls. I mean what was hard 0:21:26.476 --> 0:21:31.316 was when I arrived in high school because I when 0:21:31.356 --> 0:21:33.236 I was when I was in primary school, it was 0:21:33.316 --> 0:21:36.556 girls because of jealousy because I was singing. I will 0:21:36.636 --> 0:21:39.076 tell them, well, last night when I was out singing 0:21:39.076 --> 0:21:41.076 in the club, this disc happened. They look at me, 0:21:41.316 --> 0:21:45.556 you lie, you no way you can get I'm okay. 0:21:45.716 --> 0:21:49.156 So I stopped talking about my concert because they were 0:21:49.196 --> 0:21:51.396 annoyed and they didn't like it at all. And I 0:21:51.556 --> 0:21:56.236 have many friends either. And when I arrived my first 0:21:56.316 --> 0:21:59.716 year in high school was her on nerve. The first 0:21:59.796 --> 0:22:03.356 day I arrived, I saw a couple of guys at 0:22:03.396 --> 0:22:08.996 the door seeing nonsense, insulting people. I'm like, okay, funny whatever, 0:22:09.596 --> 0:22:11.636 and they will say, you don't be along here, you 0:22:11.716 --> 0:22:13.436 already finished primary school. What the hell are you doing? 0:22:13.476 --> 0:22:15.596 You should get married and get out of our way. 0:22:15.676 --> 0:22:18.556 I'm like, really, don't dare? I mean, I grew up 0:22:18.556 --> 0:22:21.436 you seven brothers. The next step was to try to 0:22:21.556 --> 0:22:25.276 humiliate you so they will find a stick of wood, 0:22:25.756 --> 0:22:28.116 and I don't know how they do that. They put 0:22:28.156 --> 0:22:29.956 mirror on it and you're walking. They tried to look 0:22:29.996 --> 0:22:34.556 under your your dress and that I get mad. And 0:22:34.956 --> 0:22:37.636 I remember getting back, coming back from schooling, telling my dad, 0:22:37.756 --> 0:22:41.036 you say not to fight physical fight a couple of boys. 0:22:41.236 --> 0:22:45.196 I want to just crap the teeth of My father said, no, 0:22:45.596 --> 0:22:48.796 you aren't doing that. I didn't teach you violence. My 0:22:48.796 --> 0:22:51.716