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Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo returns to the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center with high energy and empowering messages from her 2014 album “Eve.”
Ms. Kidjo, who was born in the West African country Benin but now resides in New York City, has released 11 albums over the last 25 years and has won Grammys for three of them: Best Contemporary World Music Album in 2008 for“Djin Djin,” and Best World Music Album in 2015 for “Eve,” and this year for “Sings.” Over the years, she has collaborated with the likes of John Legend, Alicia Keys, Dave Matthews, Ziggy Marley and Bono.
Her impact can be felt around the world through her music as well as through her activism as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and founder of The Batonga Foundation, which provides girls in five African nations the opportunity to receive a secondary and higher education.
While currently traveling the world on tour for multiple projects, she has made sure to reconnect with her East End audience once more with an intimate show on Sunday, August 7.
“The concert will be special as through the years I have developed a particular relationship with the audience of Westhampton,” Ms. Kidjo said in an email. “They have supported my music through the years so I’m pretty sure they will sing and dance along with some of my old songs. The venue is small but very beautiful and the audience is not blasé for sure.”
In addition to performing some of her classic hits, she intends to focus this concert on her album “Eve,” which she describes as “a tribute to the beauty and resilience of African women.” She noted that she traveled all across Benin to record the chants and harmonies from traditional women choirs to use in this album. It debuted at #1 in the Billboard World Albums chart in February 2014, achieving the same results as her albums “Djin Djin” in 2007 and “Logozo” in 1992.
Ms. Kidjo is performing international concerts for her latest album, “Sings,” which she worked on with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, as well as her piece “Ifé,” which she created in collaboration with composer Philip Glass, who wrote the orchestral music. She has also recently performed special concerts such as the African Women All Stars concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, and a tribute to Cuban singer Celia Cruz in Brooklyn.
Angélique Kidjo will perform at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, 76 Main Street, Westhampton Beach, on Sunday, August 7, at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $65 and can be purchased at whbpac.org.
on Jul 29, 2016