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Angélique Kidjo
Angélique Kidjo is one of the most original and extraordinary voices on the international music scene and an inspiration to so many artists with her eclecticism and creative spirit.
to Spoleto, the four-time Grammy Award winner presents her new album Mother Nature, work produced with some of her disciples, among the most seductive young creators of West African music, afrobeat, afro-pop, dancehall, hip-hop, and alternative R&B. The result is a particularly visionary body of work, rooted in a deep understanding of musical tradition, yet endlessly inventive.
After the success of Remain in Light and Celia, albums dedicated respectively to the ethnic rock of the Talking Heads and the Latin repertoire of Celia Cruz, with Mother Nature Kidjo returns to the rhythms of her Africa, celebrating it not only as a geographical place, but also and above all as the cradle of humankind. The Belinese singer, from always at the forefront of human rights and a Unicef ambassador, in Mother Nature opens up to a reflection on issues of climate change, inserting songs that are conceived as real conversations with nature. Mother Nature is a love letter to Mother Earth to support of values such as truth, trust, love, connection. "If there is anything the pandemic has taught us," Kidjo says, "it is that we are all part of the same ecosystem: this planet is all we have. For our own survival, we have to recognize the humanity we all share and learn to to live together. There is no other way."
Described by the Guardian as "one of the 100 most influential women in the world," by the London Telegraph as "the undisputed queen of African music," and by Time as "Africa's first diva," for her efforts against discrimination and racism the artist is considered the heir to Miriam Makeba and Nina Simone.
Les visiteurs du soir production
ITEM
Angélique Kidjo
PIANOFORTE
Thierry Vaton
GUITAR
Amen Viana
LOW
Rody Cereyon
BATTERY
Gregory Louis
PERCUSSIONS
David Donatien
Four-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo is one of the greatest artists in international music today, a creative force with thirteen albums to her credit. Time Magazine has called her "Africa's first diva." The BBC included her in its list of the continent's 50 most iconic figures while in 2011 The Guardian listed her among the 100 most inspiring women in the world. Forbes magazine ranked her first on their list of the most powerful celebrities in Africa. She received in 2015, the prestigious Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the 2016 Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award, and the 2018 German Sustainability Award. After exploring the paths of the African diaspora-through Brazil, Cuba, and the United States-and offering a fresh and electrifying reimagining of the Talking Heads' album Remain In Light (called "Transformative" by The New York Times, "Visionary" from NPR Music, "Amazing" from Rolling Stone, and "one of the most vibrant albums of the year" by The Washington Post), the French-Beninese singer in 2019 explored the sounds of celebrated salsa singer Celia Cruz. The album Celia (Verve/Universal Music France) sheds the glamour to investigate the African roots of Cruz, hailed as the "queen" of salsa. Her rendition of the Talking Heads' classic 1980 album Remain in Light was recorded with famed producer Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West, Rolling Stones, Beyoncé), taking classic songs such as "Crosseyed and Painless," "Once in to Lifetime" and "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)" and reinterpreting them with electrifying rhythms, African guitars and choruses. His album DJIN DJIN won a Grammy Award for Best International Contemporary Album in 2008 and Ambum OYO was nominated for the same award in 2011. In January 2014 his first book titled Spirit Rising: My Life, My Music (Harper Collins) and his twelfth album EVE (Savoy/429 Records), were widely acclaimed by audiences and critics. EVE went on to win a Grammy Award for best international album in 2015, and her landmark album Sings with the Orchestre Philharmonique Du Luxembourg (Savoy/429 Records) won a Grammy for best international album in 2016. Kidjo has collaborated throughout her career with major orchestras including the Bruckner Orchestra, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Philharmonie de Paris. The album IFÉ: Three Yorùbá Songs, in collaboration with Philip Glass, made its U.S. debut in a sold-out concert with the San Francisco Symphony in June 2015. In 2019, Angelique joined Philip Glass in premiering his latest work, Symphony #12 "Lodger," a symphonic reimagining of David Bowie's album of the same name, in a sold-out performance at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A UNICEF and OXFAM ambassador, in 2019 Kidjo was appointed by French President Macron as spokesperson for the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative to support women's entrepreneurship in Africa. Finally, she founded a charitable foundation, Batonga, dedicated to to supporting the education of young girls in Africa.
Budapest Festival Orchestra
Tovel, Jacopo Mazzonelli
Barbara Hannigan