Imany
Voodoo cello
From the catwalks to the stage, from ten years the deep voice of Imany, stage name of Nadia Mladjao among the most sought-after mannequins in the fashion shows of Paris and New York before turning to music, revealing herself as an extraordinary soul, folk and blues performer thanks to a deep and sensual voice.
Imany - "faith" in the Swahili language - brings to Festival dei Due Mondi the sounds of Voodoo Cello, a project in which the French singer, accompanied from eight cellos, reinterprets iconic pop music hits, challenging herself with covers of hits by Bob Marley, Daft Punk, Imagine Dragons, and Radiohead.
Imany on stage embodies a voodoo priestess, an inspired character to a wide variety of cultures, who through music and songs tells her own story. Her destiny, which begins in darkness and ends in light, brings her to an inner peace achieved through to dances and rituals that free her from her own demons.
Inspired from voices such as those of Nina Simone, Tracy Chapman and Janis Joplin, Imany, without any artifice, uses the timbral combination of strings and her voice to awaken her consciousness about the power of the feminine.
From the triumph of her two singles Don't be so shy and You Will Never Know, to her two albums and the soundtrack to the film Sous les skupes des filles, Imany continues to to enjoy worldwide success.
a concert-show devised from Imany
Imany voice
cellos Rodolphe Liskowitch, Julien Grattard, Octavio Angarita, Lucie Cravero, Bohdana Horecka, Laure Magnien, Polina Streltsova, Leonore Vedie
Imany music arrangements
choreography Gladys Gambie, Thierry Thieû Niang
lights Jérémy Bargues
Olivier Rousteing costume design for Maison Balmain
creation residency at the Théâtre des Sablons in Neuilly-sur-Seine
production Les visiteurs du soir
Text by Ernesto Assante
Imany, her stage name, means faith in Swahili, and it is nice to think that Nadia Mladjao chose it because she has faith in the immense and unstoppable power of music. Not exactly so, she tells us, when she chose it she had no idea what it meant in Swahili, rather she was inspired by the character of the American girl who marries the prince of Zamunda in Eddie Murphy's "The Prince Seeks a Wife." But it is beautiful all the same, because the story of the film is that of an unexpected and sudden transformation, from classic fairy tale, and ultimately the discovery of music in Nadia's life, is what turned her into Imany giving reality to the fairy tale. Because for her, a Frenchwoman with parents from the Comoros, music came as an epiphany: music was not the first of the many lives the talented artist from Martigues has lived: she was an athlete, a long-jump champion, for many years she was a model, moving to the United States and living to New York, and only in 2008, just before returning to France, did she start to singing. And she has done well, because by mixing elegance and originality, a warm and rich vocality, a boundless curiosity, and a 'faith' in the communicative power of music, Imany has found her way.
With the help of her sister Fatou, Imany began in 2010 to performing in French clubs, slowly attracting the attention of an ever-growing audience and then a Senegalese producer, Malick N'Diaye, who pushed her not only to to improve as a performer but also, and more importantly, as a songwriter. Imany's songs, helped to highlight her personality right away, with her debut single in 2011,"You will never know," which racked up two platinum records, paving the way for her debut album"Shape of to broken heart," produced from As, which quickly propelled her onto the international scene. She now has three albums behind her, her debut album, the highly successful and acclaimed "The wrong kind of war" in 2016, and her latest, a particularly original and interesting project entitled "Voodoo Cello," recorded with eight cellists who with her challenge themselves with songs of different origins, from pop to dance to soul. A highly gifted performer, Imany is not content to reread the repertoire of the greats, but has the ambition to be able to 'rewrite' them, to bring them inside her world, her language of redrawing their contours without ever betraying their nature or inspiration. If in the previous album the French singer emphasized the power of the song as a tool for personal, social, and political growth, touching on important topics, such as war, precisely, but also the environment, poverty, and racism, with a blend of rock, soul, and jazz that allowed her to speak to an extremely wide audience, with her latest work, released in 2021, she imagined what can be described as a great challenge even for a performer of her caliber: thirteen celebrated songs reinterpreted only from a voice and eight cellos. The result is resounding, fascinating, profound, Imany not only manages once again to to capture the attention with her vocal talents but also brings the listener to 'rediscover' the songs they already know because they are 'reimagined' for a completely different musical structure. There is no rhythm section, no electronics, nothing but a voice and cellos to interpret thirteen songs that she has chosen with special care and attention. The idea was born almost ten years earlier, when Imany first heard the Vitamin String Quartet, but she found the time to realize it in the last few years, in which she became a mother and dedicated to herself and to discovering the infinite possibilities offered by eight cellos together, capable as she explains, of transforming into a wind section or into fiery electric guitars, as if bewitched, as if in a kind of voodoo...And it is not only a celebration of the voice or the possibilities of string instruments, but also of the 'sacred feminine fire,' because, as she herself says, 'there is nothing a woman cannot do.'
Each of her concerts is a different experience, as Imany expresses her 'faith' in music by constantly changing, leaving no stone unturned, turning each performance into an experience from to share with others, in the name of music, mutual understanding, love and art.
Originally from Martigues, Imany's childhood is punctuated by the sounds of hip-hop. Even before releasing her first EP, it was through performances that she honed her style, first as a sideman, then as a leader. In 2011 she released The Shape of to Broken Heart, an album that, thanks to the single "You Will Never Know," brought her international fame with over 500,000 copies sold. Seven years and six hundred concerts later, her second album, The Wrong Kind of War, remains true to her style: a sound that blends and transcends individual styles. The result is a success that guarantees her a prominent place in the international music scene. With more than 400,000 albums sold worldwide, she goes platinum in France, driven by the single Don't be so shy, a hit that boasts the most streams in 15 countries, earning her a place in the Shazam Hall of Fame. In 2017, she performed at the Victoires de la musique awards ceremony accompanied from a gospel choir.
In her texts Imany questions human nature and what it means to be a woman. She is also an ambassador for the EndoMIND association, which fights against endometriosis, a disease that afflicts one in ten women of childbearing age. Equal rights is not Imany's only battle, equal opportunities, solidarity with the marginalized, and environmental protection are other issues that are to close to her heart. Imany was invited from Patti Smith to participate to several Pathway to Paris concerts in the United States with the goal of fighting climate change.
Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Antonio Pappano