Montreal blues musician Cécile Doo Kingué is excited about life.
She has just released Anybody Listening Part 2: Dialogues the second in a series of albums and she is on the road again with beloved band mates drummer Anthony Pageot and bassist Pierre Desmarias.
She was to play Plum, Feb 17, but unfortunately had to cancel as over the weekend, the band’s van was broken into and her mother passed away. Mwansa Mwansa and Aaron Collier will be be performing a fundraiser for Doo-Kingue, Feb. 17 instead.
“It’s going great,” I’ve been blessed,“ said Doo-Kingué from just outside of Kelowna, Feb. 9 where she recorded part one of her Anybody Listening trilogy.
“ The new CD has had a nice welcoming from critics and audiences. So so far, so good,” she enthused.
The CD includes six new songs and six songs from Part One.
“ Those songs spoke to me, so I invited them back,” she said.
The six new songs include a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Manic Depression.”
“It is one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite guitarists. And it is about mental illness. It doesn’t advocate it, but it brings it to your attention,” she said, noting the CD includes deeper, darker songs that will make the listener think as well as really uplifting, happy songs.
“Life is beautiful, so the music will make you smile, it will make you think and it will make you shake your ass as well,” she said.
She invited some of her friends and family to play on the CD.
One of the songs she redid from part One is “ Animal Kingdom.”
“ I got to have some of my favourite singers Kim Richardson and Alan Prater on it,” she continued.
“I also redid Six Letters. I got my brother JC to play on it and one of my favourite bass players in Montreal, as well as Jesse Padgett (Banjo) and DJ Joseph (guitar),” she said.
“‘Riot and Revolution’ is about how divisive people have become. It’s about supporting people fought for justice and equality and how they still are in may parts of the world. There is so much fear today. But it’s also about faith,” she said.
She is excited to return to Lethbridge to play a new venue — Plum.
“The last time we were here we stopped by and they invited us to lunch and asked us to play next time we were here . So we couldn’t refuse such a lovely invitation,” she said.
“ We’re looking forward to being back in Lethbridge,” she said.
Cécile Doo Kingué and her band play Plum, Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 9 p.m. Her show begins at 9 p.m. There is no cover charge.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
