Musician/activist Drea Pizziconi will premiere her new global empowerment anthem “Let Us Dance” featuring Maimouna Youssef and The Dap-Kings Horns, with a live performance at the CAMFED 25 Gala honoring singer-songwriter, social activist and philanthropist Annie Lennox on May 9. The gala’s theme is Education Changes Everything.
“Let Us Dance,” which was written and produced by Pizziconi, with a rousing rap by Youssef, releases worldwide on May 10. All 2019 profits from the track will support the Campaign For Female Education’s (CAMFED) work to educate girls in Africa.
“Education is a basic human right and there is no better investment in our world’s future, than the investment in a girl’s education,” says Pizziconi. “But the barrier for women to reach their potential remains high. I wrote this song for all the girls out there who won’t give up and want to tell the world ‘Get ready…we’re coming.’”
Youssef comments: “It’s time that we have an affirming women’s empowerment anthem that’s not reactionary, but powerfully proactive and fiercely feminine.”
Pizziconi is a multi-hyphenate: composer/ lyricist/ producer/director and serial social entrepreneur. She founded The Christie Company and subsequently Africa Integras, one of Africa’s largest education infrastructure development companies, dedicated to the empowerment and education of youth and especially girls.
She challenges standard convention by straddling the creative and financial sectors, trailblazing representation for women to support youth empowerment. A Gates scholar and graduate of Yale and Cambridge University, she has dedicated her life to expanding education access for youth around the world, ensuring she “pays forward” her own privileged educational experience.
The multi-faceted musician is an award-winning music director, producer and arranger, who is classically-trained as a vocalist and percussionist, having toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East as a recitalist and featured artist.
Her global exposure as a musician inspired her early social and entrepreneurial activism and reignited her storyteller musical roots. She felt compelled to write music that would give a voice to those without a platform, so these critical stories of survival would be told.
Pizziconi’s recent credits include co-writer and co-producer of “Running” (aka Refugee Song), featuring Grammy-Award winning artists Gregory Porter and Common, which Billboard named the top single to inspire hope and change in 2016.
She is also the co-founder of Compositions For A Cause, which has released several critically acclaimed records with trumpeter Keyon Harrold, including the protest anthem she wrote “Circus Show,” featuring Gary Clark, Jr. Additionally, she executive produced and served as a collaborating producer and songwriter on Harrold’s 2017 Sony Legacy album “The Mugician.”
“Let Us Dance” is the first of several new singles Pizziconi will be releasing in the coming months in support of her social justice activism. Through this work she will continue to champion the right for women to speak up and share their stories of survival, beginning with her own. Follow her on social media @dreapizziconi. For more information, please visit www.dreapizziconi.com
The Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) is an international non-profit organization tackling poverty and inequality by supporting girls to go to school and succeed, and empowering young women to step up as leaders of change. CAMFED invests in girls and women in the poorest rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa, where girls face acute disadvantage, and where their education has transformative potential.
