Divas set to rock
Jozi this Easter

Lauryn Hill, Ashanti and Regina Belle join local divas at the Coca-Cola Dome in a not-to-be-missed celebration of women everywhere. Guys are welcome too.

April 13, 2006
By Tammy O'Reilly

UNTIL a few years ago, international artists gave South Africa a wide berth. Now, as if making up for lost time, fans are getting not one, but three of the world's most popular artists this weekend.

The honey-voiced R&B diva Ashanti, soulful hip-hop performer Lauryn Hill and the legendary Regina Belle take to the same stage at the Coca-Cola Dome in Northgate on Saturday, 15 April for the Redds Divas Concert.

All three artists have carved names for themselves in the music industry, with Hill becoming the queen of hip-hop and Ashanti the princess of R&B.

Hill first joined seminal hip-hop group the Fugees when she was 13. After several albums that barely featured on the music world radar, the group made its breakthrough with The Score. But no long after its popularity boomed, Hill left to begin her solo career.

The move proved to be a good one and her first solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill earned her 10 Grammy Award nominations, five of which she won. With her unique integration of rap, soul, reggae and R&B, Hill now has fans across the world.

Ashanti – who is also a model, a dancer and, more recently, an actress – is no stranger to fame. He singing career started when she paired up with rap giants Fat Joe and Notorious BIG on two duets.

Her first solo release debuted at the top of the R&B charts and since then she has gone on to win a number of awards for her albums, including a Grammy in 2003 for Best Contemporary R&B Album.

In celebration of women who have left their marks on the international and local music industry, the concert also features our very own divas Simphiwe Dana, Lebo Mathosa, KB and Bongo Maffin.

Proceeds from the concert will go to three non-governmental organisations that provide shelter and support for women. Tickets are available at Computicket outlets or on 011 340 8000 or 083 915 8000 or through the Computicket website.

They range from R190 for seated to R320 for tickets closest to the stage. The concert is expected to run for five hours.
http://www.joburg.org.za/2006/apr/apr13_divas.stm

Thats great its a WONDERFULL THING THATS SHE IS FINALLY STARTING 2 BE MORE SOCIALIBLE. I THINK SHE I STARTING 2 BE MORE HAPPPY.

thanks for the news :)

yeah that's cool, thanks

great news. I really hope that someone will tape the whole thing. That would be so great!

What do we think of our chances of getting to see any of this?

As it's a charity performance, do you think it would be aired on tv?

I hope so!! mabye that wireimages will tape it. We were able to watch her african performances before.. so lets hope for it.

Ergh @ Ashanti being Princess of R&B.

That title will always be Aaliyah's.

But its good to see that L is doing movements!

I have no idea how that title stuck, while her albums have been decent, they're far from classics - so how is she the 'Princess' of RnB?

yeah that also bother me.

give me any name of another girl, woman who sings R&B better than Ashanti at the moment!

Ashanti is R&P..
Rhythm & Pop.

Keisha Cole is ALOT better than her, alongside Alicia Keys.. hell even Ciara is better than Ashanti.

But the title of Princess of R&B will always be Aaliyah's.

AGE AINT NOTHING BUT A NUMBER
ONE IN A MILLION
AALIYAH

3 CLASSIC CD's.. REST IN PEACE!

Aaaliyah sings like bird! R.I.P. shorty!

I can't stand Ashanti, her voice is soooo average and she always uses the same words in her songs "baby, baby, baby...." "love, uuuhh, ahhhh, oooohhhh"

Her lyrics are extremely stupid. Aaliyah was always a bit misterious and her albums have the great sound of Timbaland!

PEACE

the invisible man
:ph43r:

u know what i think it is...one person calls her princess of r&B(most likely heer record company)than evr1 calls her that from commercials and crap...so many others can sing betta it aint even funny

It's good that Lauryn's getting herself out there again, I really hope there's a way for us to watch this, but where is Ashanti the princess of R&B? That title will always be Aaliyah's (RIP babygirl!), and Ashanti is nowhere near to how talented Aaliyah was. Don't get me wrong, Ashanti has made some good songs, but they're more pop, and her albums overall aren't as solid as Aaliyah's, who in her short life gave us 3 amazing albums.

Anyway, back to Lauryn, does anyone know what she'll be performing, and if there's any way that I can watch this over the internet? I'm guessing they won't be showing this over here in England.

Verry unlikely. Wot prt of UK u from?

lol, they spoiled us with the 'Fotball For Afrika concert'. As soon as i read this i wondered if it would be possible to watch this concert on the internet. But i don't rate our chances of that happening any time soon.

I hope i'm wrong, but i doubt this is going to be broadcasted. There's no mention of a TV channel and i can't find any other information on the concert. So basically, i don't think we're going to get to see this.

But like i said, i hope i'm wrong. :argh:

Hi Guys.

Before Lauryn
I was at the concert last night. Sorry I don't have any recordings, but I'll try to give you a detailed account of what happened. The concert kicked off at 8pm with some local acts opening the show. Very energetic performances and we hyped up about what was to come out later. After the local acts finished, things started going downhill. Firstly, Regina was to perform first and boy she made us wait close to an hour before she got on stage.

Apperanlty the her sound man had problems tuning one of the guitars. We were totally pissed, because no one wanted to Regina in the first place! They were just wasting our time. She finally came on and did a couple of songs. The crowd responded well.

Ms Hill Performs

After Regina finishes, we were told to be patient as Lauryn's band was setting up.At this point the crowd was totally psyched up for her arrival. But this soon died as we had to wait for yet another hour before she came on. There was definately something happening backstage: Regina was pissed off when she came on and boy was lauryn pissed off! The crowd was restless and began booing the MC. At this point Lauryn steps onto the stage, holding a bible, and the crowd goes wild!!!

She looked like she had just stepped out of a 60s movie. She wore those high-waste jeans she wore at the BET awards, she had a leather jacket, some high platform shoes, and two scarves around her neck. She was dressed for winter, but Joburg isn't that cold this time of the year, perhaps she was sick. Ofcourse she also spotted the infamous afro. This time it just seemed to overpower her face, it was huge!

She stared into the crowd while everyone was clapping. She said:"We were going to do an acoustic set for you, but I've decided to flip it!" And I think everyone clapped because they were relieved that she wouldn't do unplugged. Her band consisted of two DJs: JPeriod and some other dude, a drummer, and a base player, and a South African dude who played drums. Her backup singers were no where to be found, no horn section, no keyboard. One got the feeling that she was not prepared and that this would be an impromptu performance.

Lost Ones

She instructed JPeriod to drop a beat. He did and then she started "It's funny how money change a situation"! We went bananas and rapped along with her. The energy was good, she was smiling jumping around, mixed the song with a couple of beats. Voice was very crisp and strong.

[U]Conformed To Love[/U

Then without warning, she sat down, picked up her guitar and started strumming. She asked if we could hear her voice well. She then started mumbling along. I know this song but I couldn't make out what she was saying. It was a horrible moment, at one point I couldn't even look at the stage. In the middle of this, she seems pissed with the drummer and instructed him to increase the pace.

Social Drugs
Again not much to talk about here. At this point Ms Hill had just "zoned" out as she was oblivious to the crowd's restlessness. in the background, her manager looked concerned that she would booed off the stage. Some people couldn't bear seeing Lauryn at her worst and started streaming out of the venue. The faithfulls gave mandatory applause after every song.

War
Same as above, nothing special here. One girl shouted:"Lauryn you are killing us softly with your songs" Everyone just laughed

Fugees Songs

With some divine intervention, Lauryn realised that the acoustic stuff was not being well recieved and so again she improvised. She got up and introduced four South African girls who were going to do back up vocals for her. She then told JPeriod to drop a beat - poor J was like a schoolchild trying to please his teacher. He was totally confused as he looked to her for direction.

She did How Many Mics- which was awesome. The crowd jumped and sang along with her. She was dancing like crazy- her tiny legs flying into the air. Next it was Fugeela, beautiful singing, the crowd sang the chorus with her. The energy in the crowd was back! J dropped Ready Or Not and we all went crazy. At this point she was just feeding off the crowd, pointing the mic in our direction. She did it beautifully and one girl shouted "Lauryn you are beautiful" She looked at the girl and said "I know Iam beautiful, but you are just as beautiful.

Then my favourite part of the night - She sang Killing me softly. From the first note the crowd sang with her and you could see that she was visibly humbled. She hit that high note in the bridge and the crowd was crazy.

Mised Songs

They then started To Zion. She did it beautifully and the crowd joined her for the chorus. She followed it up with Lion in Zion, which was also beautiful. But she kept looking at the drummer angrily.

Then she did an accapella for the intro for Doo wop. She mixed the song with a Dr Dre (Still Dre) beat. Again we rapped and sang along with her. Then she asked "What song should I do next" People were shouting all sorts of titles, but the most prominent was EX Factor. So J obliged and dropped the beat. The crowd was nuts and sang along with her.

She called out her new recruits to help her with Everything is Everything. The girls were visibly terrified. The song started and the girls started and Lauryn smiled at them as if giving her approval. the song was great, agin we sang every note, again she gave a huge smile and was just dancing and jumping, doing karate kicks. Totally beautiful. She then thanked us for being "A beautiful crowd" and that she loved being out here. then she left the stage in thunderous applause.

Overall

Her performance was average, in that she did not utilise her full band and most of the time she was improvising, nothing was planned. I think she kinda to decided to come to SA at the last minute, because she landed on the morning of the concert, picked up some poor girls to do her backing, and kept on yelling at her band if they were not getting it right. Most South African's never bought into the "unplugged concept" and so it was really baffling that she did an acoustic set. You'd think that the promoters could have warned her about this. But she is such a seasoned performer that she completely won us over after a bad start.

On a sad note,Ashanti was also scheduled to perform but she never made it on stage. It was announced that her sister/cousin died on a car accident an hour before she was supposed to perform. So the concert was a bitter-sweet experience as I got to see Lauryn in person for very first time and ofcourse the news about Ashantis sister shocked everyone. Some people even started crying and some prayed for her.

it sounds like a great concert to me. I like the way lauryn is performing. I really hope that someone record the whole show.. cause I would love to see it.

:wub: :wub: an acoustic set... :wub: :wub:

anyway thanks for the review and welcome to the board :D

Lol, i guessed that from your negative review of her acoustic songs - as they were the only songs you had a negative comment on.

Too bad she didn't have the horns, thoses sounded big last time. The concert sounds good though, i like the fact she sang what the crowd wanted to hear.

Thanks for the review Jozi !

Oh Gosh, I was so nervous when I started reading the beginning of the review !!! :unsure: :unsure: , but Thank God, things got better towards the end ! :D :D :D

thanks for the review,welcome to the board :D

Really ? maybe they were fighting ! I'd love to see that ! :bounce: :bounce: I don't know who Regina is, but I'm sure Lauryn would win ! :drunk: :bounce:

yeah who is Regina??

Im from Birmingham!

I wish I could have seen this, even if the people there didn't appreciate the accoustic songs, I'm sure others would have!

Who's this Regina? And what is her problem with Lauryn? I'm sure Lauryn would kick her ass B)

That's terrible news about Ashanti, I know she's close with her sister, so my thoughts are with her and her family.

thanks for the review...i hope someone's recorded it so we can see for ourselves!

i went to uni in birmingham, it was a great place to live for 3yrs!

thanks for the review jozi.

Any pictures ?

yeah pictures would be great

Another review from the runboard

We hear that Lauryn is next up, so we reclaim our final positions and prepare ourselves for our lady. The tall guys in our group get cr*pped on from very impolite and bad mannered short women in the room... do you kiss your Mama with those mouths? Learn some manners. There's a way of saying things and there's just plain rudeness.

*And so we wait. And wait. Something must be up. This is unacceptable. At some stage Lettie from Isidingo comes on to try and quell us (you go girl!), it's not working as the audience loudly BOO's her. Don't shoot the messenger. But we have to cr*ap on someone. This is unacceptable. It's been an hour.

*Two sms's come through our journalist and VIP network with a frightening message..."ASHANTI's sister has been killed in a car-hijacking outside the Dome."
Our hearts drop, the tired faces in our crowd which were grinning and bearing the disorganisation turn pale as we realise that something dark has happened. We wonder whether we should go home or stick this farce out.

*We stare at the stage where Lauryn's band is all set up but just hanging around. The room is earily quiet and the crowd is being strangely accepting of shocking organisation, timing and treatment as everyone just stands and waits patiently, staring at the stage. Some people are starting to sit down, others begin to leave the venue. We look at each other with questions in our eyes, is someone going to announce something... Is someone going to talk to the
audience at all? We're feeling very undercommunicated to.

*Please do not let this be true. A car hijacking. that could mean the end of any kind of credibility our country may have garnered with visiting international artists... this kind of negative reputation will spread like wildfire, having a major impact on so many levels. One step forward... how many back? We start to feel really depressed. The crowd is still ominously silent.

*"We need a revolutionary Leader" we suggest, someone who has the spirit and energy to get this complacent crowd chanting, singing, complaining, toyitoying, anything. This treatment of paying customers is unacceptable. It's about 1:30am.A few people attempt to fire up some shosholoza... others are just yelling in frustration. An announcement comes over the PA - the crowd finally musters some energy to boo and jeer a bit... Lauryn's backing musicians are taking pictures of the crowd... they seem amazed at how obedient we are. We're amazed. What happened to demanding for customer service?

*More sms's come in, all confirming that someone related to Ashanti has died. We wait some more. The lights dim a bit as Lauryn's DJ's start spinning some songs... We expect it to be the opening strains of Lauryn's set - but it's not, it's generic music... the crowd who had started screaming at the sound of the Dj's now begin to boo again... Please don't insult us by trying to placate us with generic hiphop. We paid to see Lauryn Hill so where the hell is she...More people leave the Dome.

And suddenly, there she is. Lauryn Hill. Live. She looks like MonChiChi - a huge afro, her slim hips wearing high-waisted 70's style jeans, a stripey red and black shirt, TWO SCARVES and a leather jacket. Which she keeps on for her entire performance. She jumps around a bit, says hello, sings a bit, raps a bit... We realise that she is very focused on the band - she seems to be giving them ongoing instructions... they don't seem very prepared.

*She shouts at the DJ to "watch the beat" - she gesticulates to the drummer and guitarist to move to the chorus. Three very lost looking guys hang around the percussion... "those dudes are definitely South African" we all laugh.... Half of our party decide to leave the Golden CIrcle to go and sit down. I receive an sms from a friend in the audience... "Mhhhhmmmm"it reads. And that's not a good mhhhm.

*It's about 2:30am. The space around us has emptied out. People are sitting on the floor, looking to the back of the room we see that it's thinning out fast. Lauryn has taken up her guitar. She sits on a white covered "wedding chair" and starts playing some acoustic tracks. Don't know that one. That's not from Unplugged, don't know that either. Please Lauryn play us something we know. We're tired, we're exhausted, we're feeling down, please give us something to lift us. It's a tough challenge for even the most brilliant of live performers. The crowd was really despondent and tired.

*But I realise that I am actually having a good time... I am mesmerised by her eyes, her face, her style, her movements - she is magical. She is blessed. I realise I don't care that I don't know the music or that it's unbelievably late, the tracks sound similar to her other unplugged stuff so I can go with it. I love Lauryn Hill and she's right in front of me. Live.

*Finally, Lauryn gets rid of the guitar. The room is now seriously thin. Die hard fans stand and stare, hoping, wanting, waiting. At last, she finally gets miseducated. And BOOM she takes us up, one hit follows another, with the sparse crowd finally getting what they had been waiting for.

*The remaining crowd moves back together and starts screaming, bouncing, singing, loving... Lauryn comes to life and manages to wake us up - she gives an outstanding ending to a somewhat shaky start. We don't care about anything as we get our kick and make the most of our Diva

It's weird how she always looks so radiant in her pictures, as if she's glowing - lol, i'm not talking about the light on her, but her face and her eyes, even though that picture isn't the highest of qualities they still stand out like mad.

Hmm, this review wasn't really that positive, but it was weird.

I mean, if L started playing songs i hadn't heard before i would be estatic. But each to their own i guess.

Like the other review said, the audience obviously never got into the Unplugged Album. I would definately appreciate a concert where she did songs from both (or new songs, even :P), but again, each to their own.

I'm off to bed for real this time though, I'm crazy tired.

Dear MS.Hill, next time dont put the band together 5 minutes before the show. In fact, STOP changing up the band. Your best band (as you know) was the Europe 2005 band though the Cartier band was pretty hot too. They call it a BAND for a reason. They play together and the longer they play together the tighter they get and the more they get you. That's why by the Oslo show that Europe band was really the best band you've put together since 1999.
The I'll put it together a few minutes before show time with some local musicians does not do justice to you or your songs. Or the musicians for that matter. :angry:

i'm not sure how to react to these reviews but I'm happy that L is performing solo again and that she's obviously experimenting with acoustic sets again....after miami and now this, we know there must be some new music in the pipeline...it really feels like her creativity is back with force, and i'm excited about the new album, whenever we get it.

Did yall get the newsletter from J.Period? It was about him performing with Lauyn at this show. There was a link to a site with BAAAD reviews, they were really negative. Please don't go diva on us again Lauryn <_<

can you provide the link?

Sure:
http://www.yfm.co.za/pebble.asp?relid=3129

What bugs me with Lauryn is the fact that she doesn't like to rehearse. What's up with that ? :angry: You have a show to do, why not rehearse weeks before the show ?
This is so unprofessional.
I'd rather see her live with the fugees and not solo, if she keeps doing this. :angry:

I'm not really sure what these reviews are saying to be honest - how was L rude? I'm not saying she wasn't rude (as i wasn't there, so i can't draw a conclusion), but these reviews are not really explaining it clearly. Most of the reviews are saying she was late, but someone on that site said...

... that all the artists were late to get on stage. And all the reviews complain about the lack of Miseducation songs, but i don't think that's what L is about anymore. She likes to tell the 'truth' without compromising, so why were the crowd surprised when she pulled out her guitar and started strumming away?

As for the lack of rehearsing, there's no excuse for that. I would much rather the band/DJ did what she wanted, without her having to shout at them - which is something that will only be possible if they rehearse it.

What did JPeriod's newsletter say Stine?

lol, it was called the 'Divas Concert' :P

a review http://www.vibe.com/news/news_headlines/20...n_south_africa/

I see how hard it must be to be Ms. Lauryn Hill.

Response in reading all the negative reviews:

After creating (like she said) a false public persona "Miseducation Lauryn Hill" people assume she is that all the time, one-dimensional and never changing.

I guess most of the "so called fans" are not truly into the artist of Ms. Lauryn Hill but rather into the funky beats, "show" Miseducation Lauryn Hill. I see now how people(fans) expect you(the artist, Ms. Hill) to basically serve them (sing the songs they want you to sing) and basically be a slave to the public's appetite. It appears she can't be free up there onstage and sing and do the things she wants to do. That takes alot of courage do go against a majority of the crowd and do songs you(Ms. Hill) want to sing (acoustic stuff).

I love Ms. Hill for the real, honest, and upfront lady that she is today. The reason I'm still a fan of hers is because of her Mtv Unplugged/post stuff.

I love her acoustic/unplugged/post-unplugged stuff way better than the previous stuff, but

No expections

What ever she wants to do, I'll be happy and thankful.

I'm starting to think maybe she doesn't care about her old stuff and that is why she just "throws it together". It maybe just doesn't matter as much to her in relation to her acoustic stuff. Maybe she sings the old stuff to appease the crowd, so they don't start going lynch on her? i don't know. just a thought.