(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TOMORROW")
YEMI ALADE: (Singing) I dey para. My mind don dey worry for my cheddar.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Yemi Alade is a Nigerian artist who grew up moving from place to place as her policeman father was assigned to different posts around the country. But her nickname speaks to a broader sense of belonging. She is known as Mama Africa.
ALADE: Because I have traveled from country to country, I find that we are pretty much all the same. And the difference is - most time is just the language. But the rhythm, the movement, the charisma, the culture - it just changes in colors and in the recipes. But it's still indeed the same condiments that we're working with, the same spirit.
SHAPIRO: Yemi Alade's latest album, "Rebel Queen," is a swirl of musical styles and languages from all over the African continent. She sings in Yoruba, English, Igbo, French and Swahili.
ALADE: All these languages and all the moods that I take you through on the album are a representation of who I am right now. I'm no longer just that little girl who hadn't gone beyond her community shores, you know? I am now a huge part of the world.
SHAPIRO: This album begins with a welcome to her part of the world, a song called "Karibu."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KARIBU")
ALADE: (Singing in non-English language). Welcome to my Africa.
When this song came to me, there was no instrumental. There was no sound. It was just the sound of the wind. It was quiet. It was calm. I had just landed in Nairobi. And I felt a sense, a spirit of welcome. And I just started singing to myself, and I pulled out my phone 'cause honestly, my voice recorder is the biggest saver I've ever had. And people would run to save their dollars and gold medallions, but I would run to save my phone because of my voice notes.
SHAPIRO: If you had to save one thing from a burning building, it would be your voice memos.
ALADE: I am running for my voice memos before my passport. I tell you. And right there, I just picked up my phone, and I just started singing, (singing in non-English language). Welcome to my Africa.
That's how the song came to be. It was a spirit of welcome. And it kept hunting me until I recorded the song.
SHAPIRO: I love that you're not just welcoming other people to your Africa, as people listening to the album might think, but you were feeling welcomed home yourself after travel. You were arriving back in your home.
ALADE: Yes, sir.
SHAPIRO: When you sing in Igbo or Yoruba or Swahili, do you access different lyrical parts of yourself? Do you feel like different parts of your personality are coming out?
ALADE: One hundred percent. Sometimes when I speak a language that is new to me, I wonder, why is it that I very easily connect with the phonetic? I enjoy being a vessel for culture and for all of that. Even some languages that I don't understand, I just embrace them because it definitely means something special to someone out there.
(SOUNDBITE OF YEMI ALADE SONG, "IJE LOVE")
SHAPIRO: You said that for this album, you channeled older African music that could be played at parties, weddings, clubs. Can you tell us about one of those specific memories you have of something like a party or a wedding that inspired this album?
ALADE: Oh. So let me tell you what's really going on.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IJE LOVE")
ALADE: (Vocalizing).
As a kid growing up, there were parties left, right and center. So, the guys and the ladies arrive in the party, some married couples with their kids, some ladies that are single, ready to mingle, some guys as well. And everybody is dressed in their best attire.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IJE LOVE")
ALADE: (Singing in non-English language).
Music is playing. The band is playing the local music. And the most important part of everything besides people getting up to dance is that people are throwing each other money. There is money on the floor. There is money in the air. People are laughing, drinking, and they're eating the most delicious meals you can find of the night. People are going to dance from afternoon time all the way to the morning. It is a celebration of life.
SHAPIRO: Oh, what a vivid picture. I feel like I'm there.
ALADE: Yes. I'm picturing it as well.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IJE LOVE")
ALADE: (Singing in non-English language).
SHAPIRO: You chose some amazing collaborators on this album, including the legendary singer Angelique Kidjo, who's originally from Benin. And a few years ago, I spoke with her about a track that she wrote with you for her album. It was a song called "Dignity," which was a protest against police brutality in Nigeria.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DIGNITY")
ANGELIQUE KIDJO: (Singing) Dignity can save you or kill you. Dignity, I want to hold on to you.
SHAPIRO: Can I play you part of the story that she told me?
ALADE: Yes, please. I would love to hear that.
SHAPIRO: Great. Let's listen to this.
KIDJO: I started worrying because I have family in Nigeria too, in Lagos, and friends. And my first instinct - I don't know why. I sent a WhatsApp message to Yemi and say, are you safe? Where are you? How are you? She called me and said, Ma, I'm afraid. They're shooting at us. They're killing us. And I said, Well, let's reply with music. Our bullet's going to be music.
SHAPIRO: Yemi, I find that to be such a powerful idea. Let's reply with music. Our bullet is going to be music.
ALADE: That voice note really takes me back to that very day when I called her. It really takes me back to that period. And, ooh, I feel chills all of a sudden.
SHAPIRO: Do you think of music as a weapon? On this album, are there places where you think of using music in that way?
ALADE: Honestly, I've always seen music as a weapon. It is a weapon whether people like it or not. And that is why I'm very careful with how I use it. On the album, I have decided to use it as a weapon of love, a weapon of peace, joy, happiness, a weapon of reawakenedness, a weapon of motivation. You know, not all weapons need to be fashioned to destroy. And even if it must destroy, it must destroy the negative - the negative in your heart, the negative in your thought. And that's why when she brought up the idea of writing about that moment, it completely made sense because I was almost losing my mind. I was already scribbling in a book because I felt maybe who knows? I might not see the next day. I might as well write something...
SHAPIRO: Yeah.
ALADE: ...So that maybe someone might find it and just see it was a horrific day.
SHAPIRO: Can we talk about the song that you and Angelique Kidjo wrote together for this album? It's called "African Woman."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AFRICAN WOMAN")
ALADE: (Singing in non-English language). African sister, you are a wonder. Them no understand. Oh.
I think the song says everything for itself. When I started writing the song, when I was done with the chorus, I said - before I even put my verse, I called on Angelique. I told her, Mama, I have another song for you. It's about the African woman because, I mean, we need to celebrate the African woman. I see a lot of music videos, and in those music videos, you see a lot of beautiful African women. You know, and they're just dancing and, you know, looking beautiful, but they aren't really giving their crown. They are not exactly the star of the moment.
But this song in particular is for the African woman, is to celebrate her. I think words are like spells. The more you say, they become. If you keep telling people and singing to people that they should celebrate African woman, it would become a norm to celebrate an African woman, to help her lift her head instead of trying to, you know, step on her neck, you know? So that's why that song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AFRICAN WOMAN")
KIDJO: (Singing in non-English language).
SHAPIRO: Well, Yemi Alade, it's been so good talking with you. Thank you for spending the time with us.
ALADE: Thank you.
SHAPIRO: Her new album, "Rebel Queen," is out now.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AFRICAN WOMAN")
ALADE: (Singing in non-English language). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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