Joseph Benson
Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo, known as Angélique Kidjo (born July 14, 1960), is a Benin singer-songwriter, actress, and activist. Her mother is of Yoruba decent (Nigeria) and her father, from the Son people of Benin. At a young age Angelique began drawing musical inspiration from other African legends like: Fela Kuti (Nigeria) and Miriam Makeba (South-Africa). This greatly influenced her style of music, nurturing it enough to fuse: traditional sounds, Afrobeat, Congolese rumba, jazz, latin and caribbean Zouk in it.
Angelique’s creativity spreads across all her works: her visuals, choreography and even voice percussions. Over the years, she has consistently succeeded in getting Africa on its feet to dance and also think. Thus, Angelique fits the tag of a musical Legend. In addition, she has numerous awards to her name, including 5 Grammies and an Ambassador of Conscience award - Amnesty International. A glance at her catalogue explains why these awards keep coming! She is the genius mind behind hit songs like: “Wombo Lombo”, “Africa”, “We-We”, “Agolo” to name a few, and her latest album “Celia” has more in it!
We appreciate this musical Icon - Angelique Kidjio, may we not be quick to forget the smiles you put on our faces and the thoughts you placed in our minds of "A united Africa!".
Jul 13, 2019
