Watch Angelique Kidjo perform 'Bahja' Five-time Grammy nominee Angelique Kidjo has carved a distinctive musical niche by blending the West African traditions of her childhood with elements of R&B, funk and jazz alongside European and Latin American influences.
"Don't think it is easy, the music that I do," said the Benin-born, Brooklyn-based singer as she spoke with a consortium of youth from various African countries in the film "Africa Unite," where she performed two songs and discussed the continent's struggles at a UNICEF sponsored symposium.. "I am an African woman singing in African languages. That is my contribution to my country. You guys cannot leave me alone. Alone I cannot do it. If we are all together what can somebody do against the will of the people? Together we have the power."
Angelique's energetic, impassioned stage shows have captivated audiences throughout the world but her performance as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador has been equally impressive. UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy appointed her to the position on July 25, 2002, citing her "global popularity and personal commitment to children" as making "a big difference for UNICEF and for children everywhere." Angelique once considered a career as a human rights lawyer but decided that she could have greater impact through her music. "I believe music is a language beyond the color of skin, country or culture," she once said. "I want to inspire people to work to help educate, nourish and protect our children."
Kidjo was born on July 14, 1960 in the small town of Ouidah in the West African nation of Benin, which is regarded as the birthplace of voodoo, and throughout her career, she has utilized voodoo culture as a source of musical motivation. Her mother Yvonne was a well known choreographer and theater director while her father, Franck, devoted his spare time to playing the banjo. Because Angelique's parents exposed her to a wide range of cultures and musical traditions she speaks and records in several languages including French, English and her mother tongue, Fon.
As a child Angelique sang, danced and toured all over West Africa with her mother's theater troupe and by the time she was nine years old, she was already an accomplished, confident performer. Angelique also sang lead vocals with her brothers' Kidjo Brothers Band. Their repertoire introduced her to the latest in African American music and she developed a special fondness for Jimi Hendrix (in 1998 Angelique put her idiosyncratic stamp on the Hendrix classic "Voodoo Child"). As her teenaged years progressed, she became a star in her home region. She developed her songwriting talent, her greatest inspiration being the South African singer Miriam Makeba, whose unwavering political convictions, as expressed in her music, forced her into exile during the South African Apartheid era. Angelique was also a committed anti-Apartheid campaigner and quite fittingly, a significant professional opportunity arrived when she performed a song written about the first lady of the Apartheid struggle, Winnie Mandela, for a radio station in Benin.
For more than 20 years Angelique's career has been characterized by her pan-African activism and deep concern for the continent and its people. Her lyrics have explored a wide range of subjects including environmental pollution, race relations, homelessness and integration. Angelique has performed at the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and at the 2002 UN General Assembly Special Session on Children and she has been a consistently strong voice in educating African youth on HIV/AIDs and other topics that are essential to their survival. "Education is my priority because sanitation issues, social and political issues can't change if the people are not aware of what the world is, what their rights are and what the value of their life is," she explains. "So many health problems come from ignorance and lack of financial resources, of course. "Young people are the hope of my continent. When I watch the children of Africa, all dreams seem possible."