New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Angélique Kidjo has unveiled the first music video from her just-released and lauded new album Celia (Verve/Universal France). "La Vida Es Un Carnaval" is an artful, cutting edge video that uses contemporary dance to capture the joyous spirit of salsa icon Celia Cruz, and features Afrobeat drum pioneer Tony Allen.
On Celia, Angélique explores the African roots of the Cuban-born Cruz and reimagines selections from Cruz's extraordinary career in surprising new ways, spiked with sounds and rhythms from Cuba, Africa, the Middle East, Brazil, America and beyond. Along with Tony Allen, it features Meshell Ndegeocello on bass, Shabaka Hutchins and his band Sons of Kemet, and the Gangbe Brass Band from Benin. Celia was recorded in New York and Paris, produced and arranged by David Donatien and mixed by Russell Elevado (D'Angelo, Kamasi Washington).
The video for "La Vida Es Un Carnaval" was filmed by South African director Chris Saunders, and choreographed by Carmel Loanga, who hails from Gabon in Central Africa, & uses a mix of classical Tango, Salsa and modern dance forms.
In 2018 she released a radical reimagining of Talking Heads' landmark 1980 album 'Remain In Light' to rave reviews and will perform her version of it on select dates in 2019 as well. See all tour dates at kidjo.com/tourdates.
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