Reviewed by George Luke

Though she's never really promoted herself as a gospel artist and is better known amongst African or "world" music fans than amongst Christians, Coco's faith has always been a prominent element in her music. This DVD explores her roots and culture in more depth, whilst making a passing reference to her gospel and church influences. Not a straightforward concert video, nor a "rockumentary", Coco's DVD kind of sits somewhere between those two genres, with footage of her in concert plus home video footage of her visiting her folks at home in Cameroon - interspersed with some "talking head" footage of her talking about her music and purpose. We also get to see her songwriting process and are treated to some footage from the two most significant gigs in her career: her slot at the Eden Project Live8 concert last July, and the Radio France competition that launched her career in the first place. The musical performances are breathtaking, though I wish they'd stuck with one concert and showed it in its entirety, instead of giving us bits from two different gigs. "Cameroonian kids these days know more about Japanese Manga or American rappers than they do about their African roots," Coco observes in one of the talking head segments. Hopefully, with the right amount of exposure, documentaries like this might help change that - and teach the rest of us a thing or two as well.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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