DATE AND VENUE

13 July 2012, 21:00, Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu Open Air Theatre

ERYKAH BADU

Erykah Badu
R Williams keyboards, music director
Durand Ferebee Jr. background singer
Keisha Williams background singer
“Nayrok” Koryan Wright background singer
Rachel Yahvah background singer
“Thundercat” Stephen Bruner bass guitar
Mark Lettieri electric guitar
“Taron” Brenton Lockett percussions
Cleon Edwards drums
“Ringo” Rashaad Burton Smith dj
Dwayne Kerr flute

Four-time Grammy award winning American soul singer and songwriter, Erykah Badu is set for her first ever Istanbul concert at the festival. Regarded as the “Queen of Neo-Soul”, Badu’s sound --a concoction of soul, hip-hop and jazz-- cannot be contained to a single genre.

Baduizm, Badu’s highly acclaimed debut album, was released in early 1997 went triple platinum and, along with “On & On,” won Grammy Awards at the 1998 ceremony. Spring of 2010, Badu released her fifth studio album, and second instalment of a two-part New Amerykah series. New Amerykah, Part 1: Fourth World War, a concept album that was digitally produced and political in tone, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart and Rolling Stone named it one of the year’s best albums. New Amerykah, Part II: Return of the Ahnk, which features lush live instrumentation and taps into Badu’s emotional side by thematically focusing on romance and relationships, made its debut at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart.

With her eccentric style and cerebral music, her deep, authentic and colourful voice and her remarkable performance, the first Istanbul concert of Erykah Badu will surely be phenomenal.