“Angélique Kidjo: Spirit Rising” is the new and first live album of the African diva. It’s been relesed on CD and DVD.
The CD contains 16 tracks, her originals and classic covers like Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up”, and the DVD presents 12 songs, 5 bonus tracks and an interview with the eminent artist. The concert was recorded at the WGBH Calderwood Studio in Boston with following guest stars: Josh Groban, Dianne Reeves, Branford Marsalis and Ezra Koenig.
With this performance Angélique paid tribute to the West African country of Benin where she was born and raised. She crossed genres with the repertoire, there is a bit of rock’n’roll, reggae, R&B and funk. For this special concert she picked the most beautiful songs she performed during her prolific career.
Her performances are praised as simply magical by audience and critics. The Times magazine hailed her as “Africa’s premier diva”, BBC icluded her in it’s list of Africa’s Most Iconic Figures, The Guardian has listed her as one of the Top 100 Most Inspiring Women in the World and she was listed by Forbes last year as one of 40 Most Powerful Celebrities In Africa.
Among many awards she recieved is a Grammy in the category Best Contemporary World Music Album 2008 for “Djin Djin” and the honorary degree of “Doctor of Music” she recieved in 2010 by the Berklee College.
Angélique Kidjo is UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in the fight for women rights in Africa and founder of the Batonga foundation that is promoting and funding girls education in Africa.
Take a moment and listen to Gerschwin’s “Summertime” written in 1935, performed by Angélique in her native language.
Track list:
- Tumba
- Afrika
- Redemption Song
- Agolo
- Gimme Sheltre (with Dianne Reeves)
- Malaika
- Summertime
- Batonga
- Pearls (with Josh Groban)
- Kdele
- Move On Up (with Branford Marsalis)
- I Think UR a Contra (with Ezra Koenig)
- Lonlon – Ravel’s Bolero (with Branford Marsalis)
- Monfe Ran E (with Dianne Reeves)
- Senamou
- N’Yin Wan Nou We