Interview: Keri Hilson In Ivory Coast
<p><em>We sat down with R&B songstress <strong>Keri Hilson</strong> to chat about her recent trip to the <strong>Ivory Coast</strong>, where she spoke to us about meeting prime minister Guillaume Soro and falling in love with poulet braisé.</em></p><p><strong>So, you visited Ivory Coast recently.</strong></p><p>Yeah, it was great! Though it was only a short stay, I got to play a show at <em>Palais de la Culture d'Abidjan</em> for about 4,000 people — the crowd's energy was amazing.</p><p><strong>What did you do while there?</strong></p><p>I was lucky to get to meet prime minister <strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Soro" target="_blank">Guillaume Soro</a></strong>. Other than that, we got to go to the beach, do a bit of local shopping and ate out a lot. I gotta say, out of the African cities I visited this year Abidjan had the best food hands-down. We were tearing up the poulet braisé, aloco and kedjenou <em>(laughs)</em>.</p><p><div class="preroll-video"></div><ora-player></ora-player></p><p>[embed width="560"]<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="66dc793b08ded8b2e843be51ac4a5ef5"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YI4sDx6SGwA?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>[/embed]</p><p><em>Akon ft. Keri Hilson "Oh Africa" [for Konfidence Charity/2010 <em>World Cup</em>]</em></p><p><strong>What sparked your interest in playing Abidjan?</strong></p><p>Well, I've been traveling to Africa for a few years now. I first went with <strong>John Legend </strong>on his 2009 South African tour. Ever since then I've kept wanting to return. My dream is to visit each country in the continent. You know, being African-American you truly get a sense of "home" while there. I was also impressed people could trace their lineage to a specific tribe, it's something I've been trying to find out for myself.</p><p><strong>Do you have a highlight of the trip?</strong></p><p>Yeah, my favorite part by far was visiting <strong>La Caza — </strong>an orphanage for children who lost their parents in the civil war. It was a really emotional experience and great to get to see the kids smile. For the holidays, I'm sending them over packages of bookbags, t-shirts, sunglasses, notebooks, and even an electric keyboard!</p><p><div class="dfp_atf-slot" data-not-loaded="true"></div><script type="text/javascript">
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