MUSIC
ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO
TD Arena at College of Charleston May 30 at 7:30pm
Angélique Kidjo, vocals with Dominic James, guitar Itaiguara Brandao, bass Magatte Sow,percussion Daniel Freedman, drums
PERFORMED WITHOUT AN INTERMISSION.
ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO is considered one of Kidjo was forced into exile in order to avoid imprisonment. the greatest artists in international music Her friend and mentor Miriam Makeba was a constant source today with 12 albums to her name. Time of guidance. “Miriam Makeba was the African role model Magazine has called her “Africa’s premier that I needed. She left Africa and went to America, she was diva,” the BBC has included her in its list of really the pan-African artist and I needed somebody like that. the continent’s 50 most iconic figures, The She’s really the person behind my choice of life of being a Guardian listed her in 2011 as one of their singer.” Kidjo’s campaigning for UNICEF, as well as for her Top 100 Most Inspiring Women in the World, own organization, the Batonga Foundation, which provides and Forbes Magazine just ranked her as the African girls with an education, will be a part of her legacy. first woman in their list of the Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa. As a child, Kidjo was constantly surrounded by traditional and Her 2007 album Djin Djin featured collaborations with such foreign music: Beninese singers but also the records of people artists as Peter Gabriel, Carlos Santana, and Josh Groban. In 2010, such as James Brown and Carlos Santana, and these influences she shared the stage with Alicia Keys, John Legend, and Shakira are evident in her work. “Without music I don’t think I would for the FIFA World Cup Opening Ceremony in Johannesburg, have had the adolescence and the childhood that I had,” she says, South Africa. And her 2010 release, Oyo, featured John recalling that she was just six when she first appeared on stage. Legend, Bono, and Dianne Reeves. A measure of her maturity “Atcha Houn,” a traditional song accompanied by the spare sound as an artist, Oyo is deeply introspective with reflectons on of a guitar, was the song she sang as a young girl and is included the events that have brought Kidjo to this point in her career. in the album Oyo. Born in the West African state of Benin, Kidjo is not only Among her notable recent performances are the Nobel Peace a prolific songwriter, but also a tireless campaigner for Prize ceremony and concert in Oslo in December 2011, the women’s health and education in Africa, and a United Nations Amnesty International Electric Burma concert honoring Aung San Children’s Fund International Goodwill Ambassador. “When Suu Kyi in June 2012, and the BT River of Music, the pre-Olympics your history is not written, you count on storytellers and music festival in London in July 2012. Her newest album and first traditional singers in Africa to tell you who you are, what your live recording, Spirit Rising, features guest artists Dianne Reeves, family’s about, and what is going on in your society. This is Josh Groban, and Branford Marsalis, and has been released both what I do with my music, because I am a witness of my time.” as a CD and a DVD. Between 1972 and 1989 Benin was run as a Marxist state under Mathieu Kérékou, who took over in a military coup d’état.
This performance is made possible in part through funds from the Spoleto Festival USA Endowment, generously supported by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina.
92