Angelique Kidjo returns to her roots to interpret the music that inspired her early life in Benin: Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, Otis Redding, James Brown and Miriam Makeba, plus Beninese traditional music and songs from Hollywood and Bollywood Films.
Although ‘Oyo’ is primarily comprised of covers, the music is instantly recognizable as Kidjo’s: The first thing one hears at the outset of the album is her breathtaking voice, long-sustaining the first word of “Zelie”, a song written by Bella Bellow from Togo.
‘Oyo’ features two bonus tracks, the first, “You Can Count On Me” which has been used for a Unicef campaign and the second, “Agbalagba” which was inspired by Uwem Akpan’s book “Say You’re One Of Them”.