Women of the West
b'In West Africa, women are on the cutting edge of musical and cultural progress. This program looks at four singer/composers with roots in tradition and unique ideas about how to keep them current in the fast-changing milieu of today\\u2019s African music. Mali\\u2019s Fatoumata Diawara keeps her focus on messages, mixing traditional sounds and rock idioms to reach young audiences. Senegal\\u2019s Aida Samb is finding new avenues for that country\\u2019s trademark mbalax sound, including collaborations with Afrobeats stars like Wizkid. Elida Almeida of Cape Verde has emerged as a freewheeling composer, able to draw on whatever influences she likes, and it\\u2019s working for fans of all generations. And Benin\\u2019s Angelique Kidjo, never one to sit back on her many successes, has covered Talking Heads\\u2019 1980 album Remain in Light, in its entirety, re-Africanizing a rock classic for a new time. We\\u2019ll speak with all four artists, and hear their latest music. Produced by Banning Eyre.'