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Remain in Light

Reggae / Latin / Other African traditions · 2018

Remain in Light

Angélique Kidjo

Why listen

Eight Talking Heads songs retain their order while voice, percussion and horns establish a new performance.

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Tracks · previews

English editorial edition

Album story

Angélique Kidjo’s Remain in Light reimagines a complete album rather than selecting a few famous covers. Her 2018 recording follows the eight-song sequence of Talking Heads’ 1980 original. The shared titles and order supply a framework within which another voice and another ensemble can remake each piece.

Kidjo recalled recognising something familiar from home when she first heard Once in a Lifetime in Paris. Working with producer Jeff Bhasker, she later turned that personal connection into an entire album project. The original’s engagement with Fela Kuti becomes part of a new musical conversation. Her stated idea of taking the record back to Africa describes an artistic intention, not the recovery of a single lost original. In practice, the project builds fresh performances with singing, percussion and horn arrangements while continuing to address the older songs’ unsettled questions.

Keeping the force of a demo

Bhasker initially expected to work on only one or two songs, then committed to the complete project after hearing the demos. Some of Kidjo’s demo vocals remained in the finished record. New percussion and those vocal performances formed a basis for further instrumental work. The process preserved compelling takes while rebuilding the setting around them.

Connections made by musicians

Tony Allen plays drums on Crosseyed and Painless and Houses in Motion. The connection with Fela Kuti’s music thus includes a specific participant, not merely a stylistic reference. Magatte Sow’s percussion and the horn players contribute further elements. Naming their roles makes the new ensemble more concrete than a general description of regional colour.

Ideas beyond the familiar single

Listening Wind includes Ezra Koenig’s vocals and Martín Perna’s flute. Engineer Ryan Nasci described manipulating delay while recording the flute, making its spatial treatment part of the performance process. The later songs consequently receive individual production ideas rather than functioning as an appendix to Once in a Lifetime. Moving from Seen and Not Seen through Listening Wind to The Overload shows why the full-album format matters: an unchanged sequence offers a stable comparison for changed performances.

The album through its tracks

Compare Once in a Lifetime with the flute and guest vocal contributions to Listening Wind.

  1. Once in a Lifetime

    Kidjo recalled hearing this song in Paris and recognising a connection with music from home. That memory gives the full-album project a personal starting point. The selected performance is her 2018 recording, approximately five minutes and forty-nine seconds long, not the Talking Heads original. It retains fourth place while changing the voice and ensemble through which the song reaches the listener. The language of returning the music to Africa is best understood as her artistic proposition, made concrete through a new performance. Paired with Listening Wind, the song also shows that the project extends beyond transforming one familiar single: distinct ideas continue into the later tracks.

    Reference · Angélique Kidjo — official Remain in Light programme and artist statement

  2. Listening Wind

    Ezra Koenig contributes vocals and Martín Perna plays flute on the seventh track. Engineer Ryan Nasci described adjusting delay while recording the flute, a concrete example of performance and sound treatment developing together. Bhasker’s keyboards and the new percussion setting also help construct the space around the voices. At approximately six minutes and two seconds, this is a substantial late selection, but The Overload still follows it. Where Once in a Lifetime introduces Kidjo’s original connection with the material, Listening Wind illustrates a later collaborative arrangement. Guest performance and original songwriting remain different roles, a distinction that helps describe what this new recording actually changes.

    Reference · Mix — Jeff Bhasker and Ryan Nasci discuss the recording

Listen next

Compare Talking Heads’ 1980 Remain in Light in the same order to hear how eight shared songs support changed voices and arrangements.

Remain in Light ↗
References & editorial note

Written for English readers. Album facts are referenced below; listening suggestions are editorial interpretations. AI-assisted editorial review; not independently human-reviewed.