The iconic Angélique Kidjo wins best world album at the 2016 Grammy Awards



Angélique Kidjo 'keeping it real' :)

Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo a.k.a. Angélique Kidjo is a three time Grammy award winner this year for best world album. World music encompasses music from all over the globe featuring mainly genres that are not considered western like folk music, traditional/ethnic music. It can also be a fusion of western pop music and these other different styles. (I personally find this label “world music” problematic, but let’s discuss this in a different post).

Her unique music has earned her praise like "Africa's premier diva" and she is one of the top 100 most inspiring women in the world according to The Guardian. She has been all over the world doing all sorts of different things. She has received honorary doctorates from Yale University, Berklee College of Music and Middlebury College, she has been the ambassador for UNICEF since 2002, starred in the Nollywood movie The CEO and received over a dozen awards that we never get to hear about. 

What is the point to all this? This woman’s life inspires me personally. It tells me that the African child, and most especially the African female child can have dreams and these dreams can become a reality. You don’t need to try to be like everyone else! You don’t need to dance naked on TV to become a success, you don’t even need to sing in English or speak in English or sound American/British/french to be a success. Angélique Kidjo has been called the ‘Undisputed queen of African music’ not because she was copying what had already been done, no! She created her own unique sound and stayed true to it.

Stay true to yourself, to your roots, to your talent in short; be the best version of your unique self and the sky would be your starting point!!

So, dream African child, DREAM!!!

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