Sarabande Africaine: Angelique Kidjo & Yo-Yo Ma

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Two endlessly curious musicians come together to search beyond the edges of their musical backgrounds, exposing the ways we have all been connected for a very long time; it’s a collaboration that asks us to joyfully question the tenets of genre and tradition that underpin our cultural thinking.

Date: Thu / Aug 28, 2025 - 8:00PM

Venue: Hollywood Bowl
2301 N Highland Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90068

Tickets:
Currently on sale only for HB subscribers
Ticket information will be posted here when available

Directions here

Park & Ride info here - much cheaper and fewer hassles than parking at the Bowl.

We saw Angelique Kidjo talk and perform in 2023 at the Grammy Museum, together with Ibrahim Maalouf. She discussed why she re-recorded the entire Talking Heads album "Remain in Light". “As ‘Remain In Light’ was influenced by the music of my continent, I want to pay back the homage and create my own African take on Talking Heads’ songs”
— ANGELIQUE KIDJO from her website

Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo ( born July 14, 1960) is a Beninese-French singer-songwriter, actress and activist noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. Kidjo has won five Grammy Awards and is a 2023 Polar Music Prize laureate.

She performed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. On September 15, 2021, Time included her in their list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Kidjo is an activist for several causes.

Kidjo is fluent in five languages: Fon, French, Yorùbá, Gen (Mina) and English. She sings in all of them, and she also has her own personal language, which includes words that serve as song titles such as "Batonga". Kidjo often uses Benin's traditional Zilin vocal technique and vocalese.
- From Wikipedia

Yo-Yo Ma (born October 7, 1955) is a French-American cellist. Born to Chinese parents in Paris, he was regarded as a child prodigy there and began to study the cello with his father at age four. At the age of seven, Ma moved with his family to Boston and later to New York City, where he continued his cello studies at the Juilliard School before pursuing a liberal arts education at Harvard University. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras around the world, recorded more than 92 albums, and received 19 Grammy Awards.

In addition to recordings of the standard classical repertoire, Ma has recorded a wide variety of folk music, such as American bluegrass music, traditional Chinese melodies, the tangos of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, and Brazilian music. He has also collaborated with artists from a diverse range of genres, including Bobby McFerrin, Carlos Santana, Chris Botti, Diana Krall, James Taylor, Miley Cyrus, Zakir Hussain, and Sting.