Yemi Alade. What a woman. Never heard of her until 3 June, the opening of the Holland Festival's anniversary edition. She was one of the guests of Angelique Kidjo, the Benin-born African singer who is one of the two associate artists of the country's most prestigious festival this year. And Yemi Alade, star from Nigeria, threw her full and extremely flexible weight around to get a sold-out Theatre Carré out of its seats. It succeeded several times this evening, something I have never experienced at this usually rather posh gathering.
#Showtime with the Queen mother @angeliquekidjo 👑 pic.twitter.com/OJitsj82jQ
- ✊🏾 yemialadee (@yemialadee) June 3, 2022
Not everyone had counted on a dance party. Many an elderly evening gown sat stiffened in their seats, here and there a hearing aid yawning in overdrive because of the rather loud beats of Kidjo's four-member backing band. It did not spoil the fun, on the contrary. The strikingly youthful and colourful audience was clearly in the mood for a party, and so it became.
Deeply impressed
Kidjo had invited guests, with Jeangu Macrooy allowed to make the Dutch contribution. The towering song festival candidate (23rd in 2021) came across as a bit timid at first, as did Beninese singer Zeynab Abib, who also seemed rather impressed by that large full hall, and therefore made a bit less of a contact.
London's Ghetto Boy and Blue Lab Beats had less trouble with that, although the singer also seemed to have done what more artists do coming into Amsterdam, so his first notes seemed to have been left behind in one of the capital's coffee houses.
Wind and strings
It was not to spoil the fun, indeed, Angelique Kidjo managed to get everyone on their feet with her disarming stage presence. Her reputation is also huge. She is considered the queen of African pop music and she lived up to that name well, even if the band sounded a bit less clear and tight than you would like. That was more a matter of tuning the sound system than the quality of the musicians, because it was excellent.
A pity, though, that more had not been pulled out in terms of horns, an occasional string and live backing vocals. Now those sounded like samples where needed, and that was a slight blemish on this anniversary celebration.
Government absent from state visit
Also unfortunate was the absence of the Dutch royal family, at this royal visit from Benin. We already knew that Mark Rutte would rather go to the 3Js than to an overwhelming African pop concert like this, but Maxima was a bit missed. Possibly they will make up for this later, but then they have let this run its course nicely.
So be it. It does not detract from the celebration with which the Holland Festival seemed to reclaim its youth on this 75th anniversary.
It's going to be a fun month, this June in Amsterdam.
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