Syncretism refers to the fusion of different cultures that are distinct from each other. Different beliefs and schools of thoughts get assimilated with each other. This has especially been seen in cultural assimilations as well as in the works of art. Angelique Kidjo’s release of her new version of “Remain in the Light” is a true reflection of syncretism. It is an album that demonstrates aspects of both African music and pop music. The original album was released in October 1980 by a band called Talking Heads. Angelique’s version of “Remain In Light” is a celebration of the 1980 album which was so greatly loved and revered at the time. She puts in her energy and euphoric singing together with an interjection of her native language to bring in a great piece of art (Yisa, 2014) .
Angelique’s album is seen to be deeply rooted in African Music. The first characteristic is that of polyrhythms. Her album has varying meters which is an important characteristic of African music. There is also the use of percussion in the album. Various instruments such as conga drums, bells and xylophones are seen to feature highly in this album. A close relation between language and music also features largely in this album. Angelique starts most of her song with African words before continuing with her music. The album also adopts a responsorial form. Angelique is the main vocalist who calls for the rest of the team to respond. Further, the album is largely participatory. It is largely danceable, an important aspect of African music (Lockwood, 2018) .
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The album also has aspects that are uniquely pop in nature. There is the dominance use of the guitar in the album as she sings the song “Born Under Punches”. Pop music is mainly recorded as opposed to live performances. The album by Angelique is a recording and hence present a salient feature of pop music. The album also has the verse/chorus structure which a main characteristic of pop music. The music is also danceable (AllMusic, 2019) .
The original album “Talking head” and Angelique’s version are similar in a number of ways. Both have African rhythms. Brian Eno is the mastermind behind the Talking heads. He is the one who introduced the various aspects of Fela Kuti’s music to the band. This music had an African touch ranging from its rhythm, instrumentation and electrical nuances. Angelique took the same trend and even reworked the whole album to in what she refers to as “bringing rock back to Africa”. Angelique does not change the original inspirations of Talking heads. She instead reinterprets the message and gives it a practical contemporary image (Lockwood, 2018) . Angelique’s voice however comes out stronger and bolder compared to the original album. The whole arrangement in the album exudes confidence. This ranges from the Afro-beat percussion to the electronic bass. The song “Once a life time” also gets a musicality touch as it is more sung compared to the original version which was more of spoken word. In addition, there is more energy in the use of instrumentation in Angelique’s version compared to the more subdue use of instrumentation in the original version (Lockwood, 2018) .
Paul’s Simon’s “Rhythm of the Saints” also exhibits characteristics of cross-cultural syncretism. Just like Angelique’s “Remains in the Light”, it is a conglomerate of various cultures which include American culture, Latino America and South Africa. There is a touch of each in the album. The melodies mainly give the songs the danceable. There is also the incorporation of American saxophones and guitars as well as Cuban drums (William Ruhlmann , 2019) . African American Music has many aspects that are have the African root. Some examples include the use of drums and Bango used in American music and which have their origin as Africa. The Trans-Atlantic trade probably explains this association. Africans who were slaves during this time probably transferred these cultural aspects to the subsequent generations (Smithsonian, 2019) .
References
AllMusic. (2019). AfroPop . Retrieved from AllMusic: https://www.allmusic.com/style/afro-pop-ma0000011881
Lockwood, A. (2018, June 6). Review of Remain In Light Album by Angelique Kidjo . Retrieved from Contractmusic.com: http://www.contactmusic.com/angelique-kidjo/music/angelique-kidjo-remain-in-light-album-review
Smithsonian. (2019). Roots of African American Music . Retrieved from Smithsonian: https://music.si.edu/spotlight/african-american-music/roots-of-african-american-music
William Ruhlmann . (2019). AllMusic Review by William Ruhlmann . Retrieved from AllMusic: https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-rhythm-of-the-saints-mw0000202777
Yisa, Z. (2014). Syncretism: Experience in the West African Church. New york: WestBow Press.
