Queen Of Sheba - Angélique Kidjo & Ibrahim Maalouf (2022)

Ideated from: The 65th Grammys just went down. While I’m of the opinion that the Grammys are mostly a self-congratulatory circle-jerk for vertically-integrated media corporations to sell TV ad time, I do often hear about some good records I had missed.

I don’t know much about either of these two, but this is a great collaboration.

The story of the Queen of Sheba meeting King Solomon in the West African language of Yoruba. Music written by Maalouf and played by him and elements of both his and Kidjo’s regular bands.

It’s a fabuluously dramatic and engaging piece of music. Kidjo’s voice creates its own subtle rhythms inside the music, which is itself winding and twisting.

Nominee for Best Global Music Album (all the other music was written for some other geometric form, apparently), won by Masa Takumi’s Sakura, which I’ll also have to get playing here (edit: Kidjo and Maalouf should have won).