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Four-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo is a force of nature, capable of transforming any musical material in her path with her powerful voice and positive message.  To close Texas Performing Arts’ 40th Season, Kidjo revisits her unforgettable Remain in Light project from 2018, in which she repatriated the Talking Heads’ 40 year old album by connecting with the music’s original Afropop underpinnings and filtering its new-wave sensibility through her own musical influences from across the African continent.  Kidjo uplifts the music with her euphoric singing, backed by layers of explosive percussion and driving horn orchestrations, and mines the songs for topics that resonate today, adding her own lyrics in languages from her home country of Benin.

Remain in Light was recorded with superstar producer Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West, Rolling Stones, Beyoncé).  They take classic songs such as "Crosseyed and Painless," "Once in a Lifetime," and "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)" and reinterpret them with electrifying rhythms, African guitars, and layered backing vocals.  The track-by-track re-imagination celebrates the genius of Talking Heads, Brian Eno, and the touchstones that made the original so revered while reclaiming rock for Africa and bringing the landmark 1980 album full circle in a fitting close for Texas Performing Arts 40th Season.

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