Angélique Kidjo opens Holland Festival with a lot of flair and guests

The seventy-fifth edition of the Holland Festival opened on Friday evening with a lot of flair, quality and guests. Singer Angélique Kidjo, associate artist of the festival, released her album Mother Nature ten gehore, an Afro-pop record she made with contributions from young artists with African roots. The Beninese world star had some of them flown in and proved her strength as a bridge builder with a great throat.

Also read this interview with Angélique Kidjo: Our music tells stories wrapped in a jam session

The first guest to appear next to her was precisely someone she had never worked with before: singer Jeangu Macrooy. She had already warned the public that it might look a bit comical. And indeed, the frail sixties easily fit the tall Dutchman twice. They visibly and audibly enjoyed each other’s company. After Carré got out of the seats for their ‘Take It Or Leave It’, Macrooy played an impressive a cappella version of the Surinamese ‘Wanaisa’, with a message that was closely related to Kidjo’s overarching theme of unity and care for the planet.

flexible voice

Kidjo doesn’t need much to excel. The band consists of percussion, drum, bass and keys and her impressively flexible voice. When she’s not singing, she dances, with moves that her younger guests can learn from. The stylish London boys of Blue Lab Beats were a nice addition to the band for two songs, with guitar and synthesizer. From her own Benin she took singer Zeynab Abib with her, whose contribution did not quite come out, but she can participate in the rematch later this week. Because that is also Kidjo’s contribution, she partly gives substance to the festival programme.

The younger part of the audience came too Yemi Alade, one of the stars from the globally popular afrobeats scene from Nigeria. She appeared in a curious black and glitter suit and honored Kidjo as her ‘Queen’. Kidjo, visibly uncomfortable with such accolades, christened her dand only to her princess. At the closing track ‘Pata Pata’, from Kidjo’s example Miriam Makebathe generations of African stars fused on stage into an infectious unity.

Kidjo will play several times at Holland Festival in the coming weeks with various projects.