Celia

"On Celia, Kidjo delivers ten tracks Cruz recorded and performed at various points in her career (but focuses mainly on the '50s when she fronted La Sonora Matancera), revisioned through a rainbow palette of African sounds without sacrificing their Latin grooves ... Kidjo succeeds on Celia because she not only pays revelatory tribute to a prime influence, but channels that very spirit of inspiration to deliver a high-water mark in her catalog".

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"Kidjo's album takes the songs of Celia Cruz and adds Afrobeat and other influences with stars including Tony Allen and Meshell Ndegeocello ... Kidjo's singing is powerful and assured throughout, from the upbeat revamp of Bemba Colorá to the brooding, chanting echoes of Santería, the Afro-Cuban religion, on Elegua and Yemaya, a tribute to the orisha (spirit) of motherhood and ruler of the seas, now set to an African juju beat. Magnificent".

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"Funneling Cruz through Afrobeat guitar, vocal choruses and unison brass shouts might seem sacrilegious given the reverence reserved for the Queen of Salsa, but Kidjo and arranger David Donatien manage to get at the West African essence of Cruz's music without disregarding the source material. In fact, Celia succeeds not just because it blazes from start to finish, but because it sends you back to Cruz's originals to understand which elements fueled the transformation".

"This re-Africanization of Celia Cruz adds Afrobeat to "Cucala" (Tony Allen's drumming seals the deal) and Ethiopian colour to "La Vida Es Un Carnival" (with Shabaka Hutchings and the Gangbé Brass Band)".