Whatever that superstar stuff is, Angélique Kidjo owns it in spades yet wears it effortlessly. The Beninese-French diva is currently marking her 40th year in music and this experience shows in the masterful way she delivers a wide repertoire of traditional and pop material from West and South Africa, Cuba and New York’s art-rock scene.

She opened her joyous Celtic Connections concert with a fluent rendition of Talking Heads’ ‘Crosseyed And Painless’, Kidjo having released a cover of the entire Remain In Light album in 2018, further teasing out that band’s Afro-pop influences. Later in the set, she put her stamp on ‘Once In A Lifetime’ and also looked westwards to the formative influence of Celia Cruz with a fleet-footed Afrofunk twist and a gleeful scissor kick.

Kidjo sings music made for dancing, directing her band to hold their steady, compelling rhythmic drive, nothing too frenzied, just enough to appeal to even the stiffest of hips. She is also quite the mover, expressing herself freely in dance, as well as a vigorous cheerleader of her delighted and pliable audience. She got to the heart of the matter with words on our shared humanity and innate desire to migrate.

But that singing voice is her most powerful persuader, whether delivering the commercial love song ‘Meant For Me’, the jazz-inflected ‘True Love’, the blithe Afropop of ‘One Africa’, a rocking version of Miriam Makeba’s beloved ‘Pata Pata’ or the moving encore ‘Flying High’ with her remarkable blend of fun and authority. 

Angélique Kidjo reviewed at Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, as part of Celtic Connections.