The Waltons World Masters series presents ‘Africa’s premier diva’ *Angélique Kidjo and her group of stellar musicians in a special benefit concert for UNICEF Ireland’s Haiti Appeal.

Saturday, 1 May 2010, 8 pm
National Concert Hall, Main Auditorium
Tickets €35, €40, €45 (choir balcony €20)

Angélique Kidjo • vocals
Dominic James • guitar
Andre Manga • bass
Ibrahim Diagne • percussion
Daniel Freedman • drums

There is simply no musician quite like Angélique Kidjo. One of the true stars of world music, she has spread her rhythmic Afro-fusion to the far reaches of the globe, cross-pollinating the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of R&B, jazz, and funk, as well as influences from Europe and Latin America. Kidjo commands the stage with her fun-loving personality and electrifying charisma, and ‘her voice has never sounded more expressive or exquisitely nuanced’ (The Times, London). This Grammy Award winning singer crosses musical boundaries and, in doing so, seeks to unite different world cultures through her music. Angélique Kidjo is also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has delivered countless speeches on the issues children and women face in her native land and elsewhere.

All profits from this concert, Angélique Kidjo’s first in Ireland, will be donated to UNICEF Ireland and its ongoing work in Haiti.

ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO

Angélique Kidjo was born in Benin and began her career at age six by performing in her mother’s theatre troupe. In 1983, due to Benin’s unstable political climate, she moved to Paris where she studied jazz. Her music is heavily influenced by West African rhythms and incorporates a range of other musical traditions, such as funk, rumba, salsa, jazz, souk and makossa. She is multilingual, speaking and singing in English, French, Yoruba and Fon, the native language of Benin.

Kidjo has won a number of music awards, including the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album for her Djin Djin.

Appointed in 2002, Kidjo continues to travel the world as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and symbol of Africa. In Tanzania, Benin, Ethiopia, Brazil and many other places, she has been helping to raise awareness of a new UNICEF Program, Girls Education, which was designed to help eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education. She is also founder of the Batonga Foundation, which supports secondary and higher education for girls in Africa.

– *Time Magazine

‘Her spirit is irrepressible, and she brings life to everything she touches.’
– Peter Gabriel

‘Kidjo reminds you what a real voice sounds like.’
– Sunday Times

‘An unstoppable force in world music….Her albums have found an audience way beyond the confines of the world music scene.’
– Daily Telegraph

‘No one has followed in [Miriam] Makeba’s footsteps more convincingly than Kidjo.’
– Financial Times

‘Her supercharged pipes have never sounded better, her irresistible energy and joie de vivre never more palpable….Kidjo reaffirms her global-diva credentials.’
– LA Times

‘The music never let Africa behind. It was always in Ms. Kidjo’s earthy voice, as it rebounded percussively off the band’s rhythms, soared in incantations or suddenly flickered and leaped with the edge of traditional singing. It was in the lyrics, usually sung in African languages like Yoruba or Fon and carrying proverbs and messages about freedom, love and unity.’
– New York Times

WALTONS WORLD MASTERS

Since 2003 Waltons New School of Music’s World Masters series has brought to Ireland some of the world’s most extraordinary musicians and performing groups. Past masters include:

Dee Dee Bridgewater – Red Earth Project | Buena Vista Social Club | Trilok Gurtu Group | Zakir Hussain & Masters of Percussion | Habib Koité & Bamada | Mariza | Bobby McFerrin – Solo | Branford Marsalis Quartet | Juan Martín – Arte Flamenco Puro | Jean-Luc Ponty Quartet | Preservation Hall Jazz Band | Dianne Reeves – Quartet & Guitar Trio | Wayne Shorter Quartet | Soweto Gospel Choir | Spanish Harlem Orchestra | Take 6 | McCoy Tyner Septet

For media information, interview requests and pictures please contact:

John Mardirosian, Director
Waltons New School of Music
69 South Great George’s Street, Dublin 2
T 01 478 1884
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