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7:30 PM MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018
PAVILION
FEMI KUTI & THE POSITIVE FORCE
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ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO
Remain in Light
ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO
One of the greatest artists in international music
today, Angélique Kidjo has created more than
a dozen albums, which heave earned her three
Grammy Awards among seven nominations. A
native of the nation known today as Benin, she
has been called “Africa’s premier diva” by
Time
Magazine, and the BBC named her among the
continent’s most iconic gures. Additionally,
in
e Guardian
listed her among the
most inspiring women in the world, and
Forbes
Magazine named her the rst woman in its list
of the most powerful celebrities in Africa. She
was honored with the Crystal Award of the
World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,
in
, and the following year she received
Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Con-
science Award. Kidjo’s uency in multiple cul-
tures and languages as a performer has drawn
an audience that transcends borders with music
that cross-pollinates the West African traditions
of her childhood with elements of American
R&B, funk, and jazz, as well as in uences from
Europe and Latin America. Her latest project is
a new rendition of the Talking Heads’
Remain
in Light
, taking such classic cuts as “Crosseyed
and Painless,” “Once in a Lifetime,” and “Born
Under Punches ( e Heat Goes On)” and re-
interpreting them with electrifying rhythms,
African guitars, and layered backing vocals. She
made her US festival debut performing this mu-
sic at Bonnaroo in
and is in the midst of a
world tour of concert halls and festivals that in-
cluded a stop at Carnegie Hall. Kidjo published
her rst book,
Spirit Rising: My Life, My Music
,
in
, and the following year she released the
album
Sings with the Orchestre Philharmonique
Du Luxembourg
, which earned Kidjo her most
recent Grammy. She has also performed it live
with several ensembles, including the Bruckner
Orchestra and Royal Scottish National Orches-
tra, and she collaborated with Philip Glass on
IFÉ: ree Yorùbá Songs
, which received its US
premiere with the San Francisco Symphony in
. Angélique Kidjo rst appeared at Ravin-
ia in
and is making her rst return to the
festival.
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | AUGUST 6 – AUGUST 12, 2018
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