Angelique Kidjo

Performers

• Angelique Kidjo
  with
• Dianne Reeves
• Omara Portuondo
• Romero Lubambo
• Youssou N'Dour

Bios

• Angelique Kidjo
  
  Angelique Kidjo is one of the greatest forces in African music, a creative energy with 11 international albums to her name. In 2010, she shared the stage with Alicia Keys, John Legend, and Shakira for the FIFA World Cup Opening Ceremony in Johannesburg, South Africa. Kidjo’s most recent release, 2010’s Õÿö— featuring John Legend, Bono, and Dianne Reeves—is a measure of her maturity. This deeply introspective album reflects on the events that have brought Kidjo to this point in her life.
  
  Born in the West African state of Benin, Kidjo is a tireless campaigner for women’s health and education in Africa, a UNICEF Peace Ambassador, and a prolific songwriter. “When your history is not written, you count on storytellers and traditional singers in Africa to tell you who you are, what your family’s about, and what is going on in your society. This is what I do with my music, because I am a witness of my time.”
  
  Between 1972 and 1989, Benin was run as a Marxist state under Mathieu Kérékou, who took over in a military coup d’état. When Kidjo was forced into exile in order to avoid imprisonment, she looked to her friend and mentor Miriam Makeba as a constant source of guidance. Makeba’s campaign against apartheid, which cost Makeba her South African citizenship and resulted in 30 years of exile, is reflected strongly in her music. “Miriam Makeba was the African role model that I needed. She left Africa and went to America; she was really the pan-African artist and I needed somebody like that.”
  
  Childhood musical influences—including Makeba, James Brown, and Carlos Santana—are highly present in Kidjo’s new album. “Without music, I don’t think I would have had the adolescence and the childhood that I had,” she says, recalling that she was just six when she first appeared on stage.
  
  Kidjo’s The Sound of the Drum performance features new versions of her best-loved songs accompanied by instruments born out of the African legacy. The program bridges the evolution of African drums and chants with various musical traditions throughout the Americas, from Jimi Hendrix to Celia Cruz, James Brown to Gilberto Gil.

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• Dianne Reeves
  
  Dianne Reeves is the world’s preeminent jazz vocalist, traversing musical boundaries by combining jazz and pop sensibilities. As a result of her virtuosity, improvisational prowess, and unique jazz and R&B stylings, Reeves has received the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for four consecutive recordings—a Grammy first in any vocal category.
  
  
• Omara Portuondo
  
  With her passionate and moving voice, Omara Portuondo has been Cuba’s musical sweetheart for more than half a century. As the only female member of the Buena Vista Social Club, Portuondo transcended the landmark album and film with two Grammy-nominated records of her own. She continues to enchant audiences around the globe with her effervescence and timeless charm.
  
  
• Romero Lubambo
  
  From the cool sophisticated rhythms of his native Brazil to hard bop and pop, Romero Lubambo is a guitarist comfortable in any musical setting. Lubambo’s guitar playing synthesizes the styles and rhythms of his heritage with his fluency in the American jazz tradition to form a distinctive new sound. His ensemble Trio da Paz has become a major force in revitalizing and evolving the rich Brazilian musical legacy.
  
  
• Youssou N’Dour
  
  Grammy Award–winning Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour is known for breaking down language and cultural barriers with an African pop style that has influenced such artists as Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon. She is the central figure of the acclaimed documentary I Bring What I Love.