Spirit Rising: My Life, My Music
A Grammy Award&#x2013;winning singer, Benin-born Kidjo is celebrated for her deep appreciation of world cultures represented in her music and her abiding sense of justice. In a memoir as vivacious as she is, Kidjo recounts her journey from the western African nation to international stardom. She was thrust into the music business at the age of six, when her mother pushed her onstage to substitute for a sick performer. Kidjo&#x2019;s music was heavily influenced by Miriam Makeba and Aretha Franklin as well as a growing awareness of racial injustice in the U.S., South Africa, and her own country, then under a Communist regime. She fled to Paris rather than succumb to censorship and began an international career that brought her in contact with artists from James Brown to Harry Belafonte, from Carlos Santana to Alicia Keys. Kidjo writes beautifully of the spirituality of singing, the public giving of self to the audience, and the intimate opening of the self to the spirit. Photographs enhance this chronicle of the life of a vibrant singer and activist. --Vanessa Bush