Tonight:
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Evening Standard rating
Powerful lessons from Stars of Africa
Simon Broughton, Evening Standard 27 Nov 2008
This was a prestigious gig to celebrate the 50th anniversary of VSO and the Stars of Africa represented three generations of African artists. There was a rising star, an international star and a legend.
Bassekou Kouyaté from Mali opened with a delicate solo on the ngoni lute — the desert ancestor of the banjo — and the Albert Hall became an intimate space with close-up visuals of the intricate fingerwork on an instrument the size of a small cricket bat.
Next, a storming set from Angelique Kidjo, originally from Benin. She struts, leaps and spins with an energy that set the hall alight. “If you think you have nothing to do with Africa, you are wrong,” she says, then, in seconds, gets everybody singing LOUDLY. “It’s so good it hurts,” she says, thumping her heart and ends with 50 audience members on stage joining in the action.
South Africa’s trumpeter Hugh Masekela brought a statesmanlike presence, dedicating the concert to “Mama Africa” Miriam Makeba, who died earlier this month. It was a lesson about the power of music and, ending with Bring Back Nelson Mandela, he thanked London for helping to make that happen.
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