Kidjo in concert!

The beautiful Samba Pati rendition and video

Yes, I have been that busy. But not too busy for Angelique! After my disappointment of missing her concert this spring, we drove two hours in crazy Saturday night traffic to see her perform in Westhampton. I got front row center tickets and I was overwhelmed when she sang Arouna. Ah, she is a stellar performer. She has tremendous stage presence; you can feel her energy and passion. The setting was small with limited capacity, and so the evening was more personal and enjoyable. She spoke to the audience a lot and really involved them in the show. This was my first time seeing a big African artist and I was truly excited and happy.

Djin Djin

I recently purchased this spectacular album in which Kidjo collaborates with accomplished artists to create some wonderful tracks.

My favourite is the title track 'Djin Djin' which brings together Kidjo's powerful voice and Alicia Keys' soulful one. I was surprised to find a Rolling Stones number on the album and oh, how wonderful it is! (Gimme Shelter sung with Joss Stone). I am enamored with Josh Groban's voice in Pearls, a truly moving song. Arouna and Sedjedo are old favourites, but Ziggy Marley really spices up this version of Sedjedo. And finally, Salala with Peter Gabriel is simply out of this world. An excellent album overall.

Bébé(s)

I just watched this wonderful, funny, touching documentary film that follows the first year of 4 babies located around the world in Namibia, Mongolia, Tokyo and San Francisco. It was so interesting to see both, how similar and different the life of a baby is in different cultures in different parts of the world. The most stark difference was with the baby in Namibia. The little one was crawling around in the dirt, drinking water from a stream, putting fingers inside a stray dog's mouth and chewing a random bone in the dust. The film has no narration and yet, it is immensely interesting.

Watch French filmmaker Thomas Balmes speak about the film in this BBC clip.

46664

If you ever wondered what 46664 meant, here's an excerpt from the Wiki Page:

Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island in 1964, and was the 466th prisoner to arrive that year. The prison administration's scheme of numbering prisoners was to follow the sequence number of the prisoner (466 in his case), with the last two digits of the year (64). The number was imposed on him by the prison for over 25 years, until his release in 1990. "Prisoner 46664" continues to be used, as a reverential title for him, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation uses 46664.com as its website address. Read more about the concerts.