Wahda Be Wahda
3-time Grammy Award winning African songstress
The first African woman to win three American Grammy Awards, Benin-born singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo is one of Africa’s leading female voices.
Born into a family of performing artists, Angelique began performing in her mother’s theatre troupe at age six and as a teenager, sang in her brothers’ rock–rhythm-and-blues band. A professional singer by age 20, she recorded her first album, Pretty, in 1988. (Britannica.com)
Kidjo’s music explores fusion, jazz, hip-hop, zouk, Zairean rumba, samba, salsa, funk, gospel, Cameroonian makossa, and various Beninese traditions, and Eve, a 2014 tribute to African women sung in Beninese, won a Grammy Award for best world music album, as did Sings (2015), a collaboration with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Luxembourg.
As a passionate UNICEF Ambassador, Angelique raises issues affecting children and young people, and her 19991 album, Logozo, featuring American jazz musician Branford Marsalis and African artists Manu Dibango and Ray Lema and it’s songs addressing homelessness, freedom, and integration, was an international success.
Growing up around her mother’s colourful Vlisco wax fabrics in Benin, Angelique’s carries on this tradition, wearing these colourful garments while performing, paying tribute to African women and heritage on the world’s stage.
So when I’m on stage I hope that the music and fabric I wear will bring out the message of strong African women. A message I can give to the world.
Angelique Kidjo
