[ad_1]
Lauryn Hill performs onstage during the Amnesty International Concert.
Photo by DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images
If you were ever one to doubt Lauryn Hill — her relevancy as a musician and whether or not, well, she’s still got ‘it’ — the Friday into Saturday morning performance at Diaspora Calling!, (Hill took the stage just before 1:00 am), would indicate that now’s the time to take a seat.
Actually, 12 seats might suffice.
Diaspora Calling!, the three-day music and art festival hosted by Lauryn Hill and Tidal X which culminated on Friday, brought together scores of the melanin rich, and their allies, to Kings Theatre in Brooklyn.
The theatre was bustling, and it’s walls were decked-out with visual art: photography, collage, paintings, jewelry. The works. Opening acts, including Stephen Marley, also took to the main stage. But, let’s be real. Lauryn Hill’s sold out performance was the draw. And rightfully so.
Ms. Hill was in rare form.
Her 90-minute performance was like witnessing a second coming. She was clad in a floor-length white dress, with tie dye accents, and the African ankara rope necklace of life. Along with her full band, background singers and dancers (think Fela’s dancing queens), L-Boogie commanded the audience, taking it through a catalogue of her music, spanning nearly two decades.
She opened with a procession of African dancers and drummers. Then she took to her guitar with super emotive songs from MTV UnPlugged No. 2.0. L-Boogie brought the audience to its feet with tracks from the Fuggees Grammy-winning album, The Score. And Hill also covered Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good.” Throughout the performance, she dropped a few favorites from Miseducation of Lauryn Hill: “Everything is Everything,” “Zion” (after performing the song, she brought her teenage son, Zion, to the stage) and “Doo Wop (That Thing)”. The woman was on fire. And from the ashes, a phoenix rises.
Welcome back, Ms. Hill — and please stay a while. We’ve missed you. Immensely.
[ad_2]
