Celtic Connections
Angélique Kidjo with Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Rob Adams FOUR STARS
There can't be too many examples in the RSNO's illustrious history of its musicians being deserted onstage by a guest sashaying into the auditorium, still singing through a radio mic, and exchanging hugs and high fives with as many of the audience as possible, passing along the stalls in the process.
This, though, was the finale to Saturday's visit by Béninoise force of nature Angélique Kidjo, who may have added a first or two to both Celtic Connections and RSNO lore. Have we had a Santana song sung on the festival's mainstage before? We did here with Kidjo's elastically expressive rendition of Samba Pa Ti. Has a RSNO audience ever been chided for being rubbish at a sing-a-long? This one was, quite pointedly, but as much in the spirit of Kidjo engendering a good vibe as in her insistence on being the boss.
Kidjo's first response to conductor-arranger Gast Waltzing's suggestion that he could cloak her astonishing voice and celebratory songs in orchestrations was one of disbelief. Actually, it might have been stronger than that, and there were occasions when the orchestra threatened almost to swamp her and others where the coming together of two cultures wasn't entirely successful.
These were overshadowed majorly by the parts that worked, however. At one point, indeed, during her Brazilian sojourn, it seemed that Kidjo, rather than Waltzing, was in charge of the orchestra as she had them swinging to her hip-sway.
It was feelgood music, punctuated by tenderly reflective passages with just guitarist David Laboner's careful accompaniment, that carried serious clout. The threats to our personal privacy in the wake of world leaders' response to terrorism informed Kidjo's impassioned plea for freedom. Education as a human right and peace were invoked in no small gesture from a singer - and woman - whose sincerity is unimpeachable and whose actions with UNICEF speak louder than words. The audience left smiling. They'd been entertained, moved by vocal magnificence, but also, I suspect, been given more than a night of music to consider.
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