Raising the roof

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/06/2023 (1198 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There have been countless times the Burton Cummings Theatre has become a dance hall during its 116-year history, but chances are those moments weren’t anything like what happened Saturday night.

Angélique Kidjo, the 63-year-old Beninese singer and UNICEF global ambassador, also proved she’s a tireless dancing dynamo during her concert, the headline performance of the 2023 Winnipeg International Jazz Festival.

She provided inspiration for most of the crowd to get out of their seats and join her in an African-themed rave as the three-piece band behind her created a seemingly endless groove of rhythms from her West African homeland, along with jazz beats, Latin salsa and even 1980s new-wave syncopation.

It was a hypnotic mix.

The five-time Grammy Award winner began her 90-minute set with her own take on Crosseyed and Painless, from the Talking Heads’ 1980 album Remain in Light, and its frenetic pace was a glaring hint of the musical energy that was in store for the evening, especially when Kidjo executed a dazzling spinarama dance during the song.

Remain in Light is influenced by West African rhythms, which Kidjo has said she recognized immediately upon first hearing it. The experience eventually inspired her to release her own version of the classic new wave album in 2018; its most recognizable song, Once in a Lifetime, was one of several highlights Saturday.

The song has a mantra, “Same as it ever was,” which Talking Heads singer David Byrne made famous, but when Kidjo sings the line over and over, it’s not quite the same as it ever was, and the crowd, which filled up most of the orchestra level and first balconies at the Burt, dug it.

Kidjo also paid tribute to Celia Cruz, saying the Cuban singer has been a motivating force in her life, and urged the women in the audience — many of whom shouted out that they had connections to African countries such as Congo, Senegal, Kenya and Nigeria, as well as Benin — to break down male-dominated boundaries and follow their dreams.

“Excuse me, I can do anything I want, too,” Kidjo said before performing Cruz’s tune Benba Colorá. “I’m going to be like her.”

Kidjo showcased many of her own songs, including early favourites such as Afrika and the electric Meant For Me, one of several she performed from her 2021 album, Mother Nature.

“I don’t care if your money goes, I don’t care if your beauty fades / All I know is we will be OK / All I know is you’re meant for me,” she sang.

Kidjo, who wore a vibrant purple, black and white gown with a matching headdress she doffed after the first two songs, said it took her 39 hours by plane to get to Winnipeg for the show.

Bad connections meant her band — which featured musicians from three different continents — was short one percussionist for the concert, but it was difficult to notice, especially when Chilean drummer Edgardo (Yayo) Serka played with a drumstick in his right hand and congas with his left at one point.

A large portion of Kidjo’s fans in the audience were African Manitobans for whom the jazz festival provided the rare opportunity to see one of the continent’s most famous stars. Among their rewards near the end was an extended version of Pata Pata — which means “touch touch” in the Xhosa language — that had everyone dancing for one last time Saturday.

Winnipeg’s Kelly Bado, who moved to the city from Cote d’Ivoire in 2007 and has won three Western Canadian Music Awards and honours in Quebec for her French-language songs, was an ideal choice to open Saturday’s concert.

She’s a longtime Kidjo fan — Cote d’Ivoire and Benin are near each other in West Africa — but Bado performs with more of a pop style, although she shared a song from her days in Africa that her grandmother teased her with during her childhood when she asked to hear more music.

“It means ‘Little girl, you’re so small, but your ears are larger than your entire body,’” she translated.

Credit to the jazz fest for giving Bado, one of the city’s most notable artists, a proper 75-minute showcase for her songs and her two bandmates, guitarist Joël Perreault and drummer Ivan Burke.

Among the highlights included sweet renditions of two francophone songs, Mama Hé and Habibi, the English-language tune I Love That You Love Me and On n’a pas fini d’aimer, the first song she said she wrote after arriving in Canada.

The festival continues until Saturday at several downtown and Exchange District venues, including free concerts at Old Market Square.

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @AlanDSmall