Angélique Kidjo and Ibrahim Maalouf with “Queen of Sheba”
In the first real summer week we enjoy the new album released today by two world renowned musicians - the African diva Angélique Kidjo and the French-based Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf. This is the studio recording of their 2018 project "Queen of Sheba", with which they tour the world's leading jazz scenes - music co-written by the two musicians and including a symphony orchestra conducted by Maalouf.
A few words about the musicians. Benin-born Angélique Kidjo is a five-time Grammy winner, repeatedly hailed by the press as the greatest diva of African music today. Ibrahim Maalouf, on the other hand, has been experimenting with contemporary trumpet for almost two decades and is constantly collaborating with the world's leading musicians, who take jazz and contemporary music to a completely new level.
The collaboration between the two artists sends us on a magical journey through the lands of Africa and the Middle East, intertwined in an extremely organic way and making us forget about the physical place, we are. At the heart of the idea is the myth of the Queen of Sheba; a myth that is present in the Bible, the Quran, the Talmud and the Ethiopian Chronicles.
Poetry and a tribute to these old places and cultures - the ancestors of the modern world and civilization, this is the message of the project "Queen of Sheba”.
And we refer to it as one of the interesting new titles that have appeared this year and we look forward to hearing this magical music somewhere on a quiet bay on an almost moonless night under the huge stars of the southern seas.
The album is available on digital platforms, and today we listen to several pieces performed live on the stages of European jazz festivals.
Angelique Kidjo and Ibrahim Maalouf - Omidje
Angelique Kidjo & Ibrahim Maalouf - Jazz à Vienne 2018
The whole album is available here.Queen of Sheba
June 2022
Image ©МА
