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Three-Time Grammy Winner AngéLique Kidjo Premieres Her “Remain in Light” Concert in Her UAE Debut

The Talking Heads’ classic album is reimagined as Kidjo weaves African tones, melodies, and rhythms throughout

Press Release

Abu Dhabi, January 18, 2018:  The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) is thrilled to welcome one of Africa’s greatest living female vocalists and performers this  February, as Angélique Kidjo gets set to perform her interpreted version of Talking Head’s groundbreaking album, ‘Remain in Light’.

Taking place on Saturday, February 3, Kidjo will make her UAE debut with a show ideal for all audiences, including Talking Heads fans, world music lovers, culture aficionados, and of course ardent supporters of Kidjo herself. The show takes place after the opening at Carnegie Hall in New York City, to which received rapturous acclaim, as did follow-up concerts at Lincoln Center and the Bonnaroo Festival.

The open air East Plaza venue will once again come to life, as Kidjo and her band thread African rhythms and melodies into the Talking Heads hits. Those who attend can expect to hear such tracks as Once in a Lifetime, Born Under Punches, and Crosseyed and Painless, along with a selection of her own songs. 

Kidjo is from Benin in West Africa, and left her home in 1983 for Paris in order to exile herself from Benin’s communist regime. Kidjo now resides in New York City, yet continues to add her homeland’s flavor to her work.

Kidjo, a dynamic onstage presence who has collaborated with artists ranging as diverse as Alecia Keys, Santana, Youssou Ndour, Kronos Quartet, Peter Gabriel, Bono, Amadou & Mariam and many others has injected an uplifting and jubilant spirit to them into music from an album was which was produced by Brian Eno as he and Talking Heads front man David Byrne were first encountering the pioneering Afrobeat music of the West African musical icon Fela Anikalapu Kuti.

Those attending will also be treated to an opening DJ set by Mhbithi Masya from Kenya’s Just a Band, who performed as part of The Arts Center’s pilot season in the spring of 2015, helping set the stage for The Arts Center’s future success.

Bill Bragin, executive artistic director at The Arts Center at NYUAD, said: “Angelique Kidjo is quite simply one of the greatest live performers on the planet, in any style. Her expansive and innovative vision, cutting across culture and style,  synthesizing so many stylistic influences, as well as her deep history as a humanitarian, makes her the perfect artist to kick off our spring season and our first concert during the Year of Zayed.” 

About NYU Abu Dhabi

NYU Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and research campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly selective undergraduate curriculum across the disciplines with a world center for advanced research and scholarship. The university enables its students in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, and arts to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world and advance cooperation and progress on humanity’s shared challenges. NYU Abu Dhabi’s high-achieving students have come from over 115 countries and speak over 115 languages. Together, NYU's campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai form the backbone of a unique global university, giving faculty and students opportunities to experience varied learning environments and immersion in other cultures at one or more of the numerous study-abroad sites NYU maintains on six continents.