Earlier this year Lauryn Hill launched a three-day art and music event called Diaspora Calling which celebrated the African Diaspora. The event several big names of African descent participating; names such as Wondaboy, Machel Montana, El, Stephen Marley, Stonebway, Mr Eazi and Paul Bearbrun. Lauryn Hill was the headliner as expected. As per Lauryn’s plan Diaspora Calling will be an annual event. In the mean time Lauryn is kicking off a tour under the same theme called the Diaspora Calling Tour.
It’s an extensive tour which will see the multiple Grammy award-winning songstress performing in various cities in North America and Japan from September till December 2016. As if it’s not exciting enough that Hill will be performing two additional big names have been added to the tour; hip hop icon Nas and R&B singer Kehlani.
“The MLH Caravan allows me to continue the theme of unity and celebration of the many facets of cultural and artistic beauty throughout the African Diaspora while on tour this summer and fall,” Lauryn said of the tour. Little Simz and Noname have also been added to the tour which should make for a very interesting show.
Hill is notorious for no-showing at several events but seeing as this is her tour I’m inclined to believe that this will not be the case. The complete list of tour dates is below, so if you’re in any of the cities listed below you might want to consider attending. The combination of Nas and Lauryn Hill is magic as was witnessed in their collaboration in the 90s, so this should be particularly intriguing to watch after all these years. One has to expect that the duo will perform the old hip hop classic If I Ruled the World from Nas’ sophomore solo album It Was Written.
Diaspora Calling! Tour Dates:9/1 -- Chicago, IL @ Ravinia (with No Name)9/2 -- Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore (with No Name)9/4 -- Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue (with No Name)9/9 -- Paris, France @ Fete de L'Humanite Festival9/11 -- St. Louis, MO @ Loufest9/13 -- Louisville, KY @ The Louisville Palace9/15 -- Toronto, Ontario @ Massey Hall9/16 -- Toronto, Ontario @ Massey Hall9/18 -- Cleveland, OH @ Hard Rock Live Rocksino9/20 -- Columbus, OH @ Palace Theatre9/22 -- Indianapolis, IN @ The Murat Theatre9/24 -- Atlanta, GA @ Chastain Park9/25 -- Tuscaloosa, AL @ Tuscaloosa Amphitheater9/27 -- Memphis, TN @ Orpheum9/29 -- Charlotte, NC @ Charlotte Metro Credit Amphitheatre10/1 -- Boston, MA @ Wang Theatre10/13 -- New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall (with Kehlani, Little Simz)10/20 -- Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre10/25 -- Osaka, Japan @ Zepp10/27 -- Tokyo, Japan @ Zepp10/29 -- Yokohama, Japan @ Red Brick Festival11/1 -- San Diego, CA @ Copley Symphony Hall11/4 -- Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre11/5 -- San Francisco @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (with Nas and Kehlani)11/6 -- Seattle, WA @ McCaw Hall (with Nas and Kehlani)11/8 -- Vancouver, British Columbia @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre11/10 -- Portland, OR @ Keller Auditorium11/12 -- Las Vegas, NV @ The Foundry at SLS11/13 -- Phoenix, AZ @ Comercia Theatre11/27 -- Austin, TX @ Moody Theatre11/29 -- San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theater12/1 -- New Orleans, LA @ Saenger Theatre12/6 -- Tampa, FL @ Mahaffey Theater12/8 -- Orlando, FL @ House of Blues12/13 -- Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz12/18 -- Silver Springs, MD @ Fillmore
