Aretha, Condi Duet in Concert

Unlikely pair comes together for music education
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 28, 2010 6:16 AM CDT
Aretha, Condi Duet in Concert
Condoleezza Rice and Aretha Franklin greet the crowd after they performed their second song together at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, July 27, 2010.   (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

One is the face of the George W. Bush administration; the other a staunch Democrat and the Queen of Soul. Nonetheless, Condoleezza Rice and Aretha Franklin came together last night in a performance raising money for music education. Both performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Music Center, but also paired up—Rice on piano, Franklin on vocals—for songs ranging from “I Say A Little Prayer” to “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” the AP reports.

“She really does play,” Franklin says of the classically-trained Rice. “She's formidable.” The concert “took on rare auras of celebrity, politics, and the general idea that history of a sort was in the making,” writes Peter Dobrin in the Philadelphia Inquirer. He calls Rice a “competent amateur,” but says the crowd of nearly 10,000 really roared for Franklin. This isn't Rice's only unlikely hobby: Click here to read about her WNBA aspirations.
(More Condoleezza Rice stories.)

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