Africa’s reggae superstar, Rocky Dawuni gave a rousing and impassioned performance to spark a capacity crowd of 18,000 dancing onto their feet at the historic Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Sunday, July 24th, 2011 with the legendary Stevie Wonder.
Dawuni charged onto the stage with his afrobeat rocker “Afroroots Vibration,” before rolling into the crowd favorite “Extraordinary Woman” both from his hit album Hymns for the Rebel Soul.
Rocky then spoke about the need for action on the famine in Somalia and Ethiopia before jumping into a superb rendition of “Get Up Stand Up” by Bob Marley with the ecstatic crowd swaying and singing along.
The night billed as “KCRW”s Global Soul with Stevie Wonder and Friends” brought together current top stars of soul music from around the globe. The night featured classic performances by grammy nominee Janelle Monae, Sharon Jones, soul man Charles Bradley, Mexico’s Ceci Bastida, rocker Grace Porter all backed by the American Idol/Tonight Show bandleader Rickey Minor.
Stevie Wonder closed out the night with an amazing performance from his classic repertoire before inviting Dawuni and all the featured guests to join him on stage for a final performance of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin On” and Stevie’s own “Higher Ground” to crown a night of musical history. Dawuni’s performance was also filmed by CNN for a forthcoming “African Voices” feature on the musician.
Rocky is now off to Europe to continue his Summer 2011 world tour!!
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Ghanaian Reggae Star, Rocky Dawuni joins legendary Stevie Wonder