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Pop Goes PIFA

?uestlove of the Roots with Keren Ann The festival's pop music highlight teams Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, drummer and bandleader of the Philadelphia hip-hop band the Roots, with Keren Ann Zeidel, the Paris- and Tel Aviv-based chanteuse who just

?uestlove of the Roots with Keren Ann The festival's pop music highlight teams Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, drummer and bandleader of the Philadelphia hip-hop band the Roots, with Keren Ann Zeidel, the Paris- and Tel Aviv-based chanteuse who just released her sleek sixth album 101. Along with unnamed special guests, ?uesto and Keren Ann will present "Philly-Paris Lockdown," which promises to mash up hip-hop and early-20th-century composers such as Satie, Debussy, and Stravinsky. April 17 at Verizon Hall.

Les Nubians French-Cameroonian duo Les Nubians - Paris-based sisters Celia and Helene Faussart - embrace an "Afropean" label for their mix of reggae, hip-hop, chilled-out dance music, and silky R&B. (Think Sade, with percolating world beats.) The siblings' latest foray into Francophone neo-soul, Nu Revolution, comes out Tuesday, and features Afrobeat legend Manu Dibango and Ghanaian rapper Blitz the Ambassador. April 21 at the Perelman Theater.

- Dan DeLucaEndText