Angélique Kidjo, winner of five Grammy Awards, is one of the greatest international music artists of today, a creative force with sixteen albums to her name. Time Magazine hailed her as the “first African diva” and named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2021. The BBC included her in its list of the 50 most emblematic personalities on the continent, and, in 2011, The Guardian listed her among the 100 most inspiring women in the world. Forbes Magazine ranked her as the top woman on its list of the most powerful African celebrities. She recently received the prestigious Crystal Award in 2015, awarded by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Ambassador of Conscience Award from Amnesty International in 2016, the German Sustainability Award in 2018, the Vilcek Prize in Music in 2023, and the Polar Music Prize in 2023.
“For many years, my only goal was to compose the music that made me happy and sincerely responded to who I was, but over time I began to realize the impact some of my songs had on the new generations,” says the Franco-Beninese artist who lives in the United States.
Angélique addresses urgent causes that need no further proof, such as the fight against racial inequality and the fight against climate change, sources of current geopolitical tensions.
