Performing under Lincoln Center's White Light Festival banner, Malian singer-songwriter, Rokia Traoré, “Africa’s most interesting
and genuinely experimental contemporary musician” (Daily
Telegraph-London), will perform songs from her latest, critically-acclaimed, and most
rock-influenced album to date, Beautiful Africa.
Beautiful Africa, received perfect five-star reviews from The Guardian, Observer, Daily Telegraph, and Financial Times upon its UK release in April. Pitchfork wrote, “Traoré’s past albums established her as a fine singer, but here, she feels more accomplished than ever, her voice bending around her words…with flourishes of subtle vibrato.” The songs, sung in Bambara, French, and English, are Traoré’s attempt to wrestle with the recent political and social strife in her homeland. The Chicago-Reader said the album “marks a major transformation and a huge step forward artistically” for the singer/songwriter whose career has carved a distinctive path joining traditional African sounds with the jazz, blues, rock and French chanson she grew up with.