Music

She’s been called ‘Africa’s premiere diva’ but Angélique Kidjo is much more than that, writes

Angélique Kidjo is a po werhouse. A nac tivist. A campaigner. A five-time Gramm y Aw ard winner, a mo ther, a collaborator. There’s power in m usic, she says – to make change, to amplify, to encourage people to rise up. There’s als o jo y.

You can feel it, whether it’s listening to the songs on any of her 16 albums o rs eeing her perfor ma NPR Tiny Desk concert.

Watch her dance, listen t o he rw ords –i t hardly matters if you don ’t u nderstand t he fi ve different language ss he sings in – the rhythms, the melody, the voice all manage to conve yt he message.

“I alwa ys s ay joy is a state of mind ;y ou can choose t o li v eami serable life or a po sitive life wher e jo y is at the centr eofi t. It give sy ou strength to see challenges as an opportuni tyt omo v e fo rward. It’s something tha tI have been taugh tt hrough songs… to see the struggle of the one sw ho have come before me.”

New York-based Kidjo i sr eturning to Aotearoa in 202 4 fo rt he Auckland Arts Festival.

She was last her e in 2019 for WOMAD.

She remembers it fondly – the pōwhiri and the sharing of cultures by musicians fr om a round the world performing a tt he festival.

It w as humbling, she says.

“We have s om uch in common and the distance just vanishe sw hen culture comes in… It’s a beautiful thing to see.”

She ’s s peaking from Pari sw here s he i s performing to celebrat e fo ur decades in t he b usiness.

She recently performed in Benin wit ha rtists from the 14 regions of the country where she was born and raised to celebrate this milestone. The conce rt w as broadcast nationally.

Kidjo is belov ed a round the wor ld – Bono is a fan – s he i s adored in Benin. “Iw as having the be st t ime ever,” she says of he rr ecen tv isit .“It’s been a while and I fel tt he need t ogo there and to pla yt om y people [in the place] wher ei t all started.”

Named by Time magazine a s ‘A frica’s premier e di va’, Kidjo is a celebrated global artist.

Her awards are voluminous as is her creativ eo utput. Thi sy ea rs he was awarded the Polar Mus icP rize that celebrate st he power and importance of music. Past recipients of what is considered t obe the Nobel Priz ein music include Björk, Youssou N’Dour ,Pa tti Smith.

She has collaborated wit hm usicians fr omm ultiple genres, the likes of Bono, Pete rG abriel, Alicia Keys, Yemi Alade, Ziggy Marley and Nigerian singer, songwriter and producer Burna Bo yt o namecheck a few.

It’s not just big name ss he ’s w orked alongside. On he rs ixth album Fifa (meaning peace in the west African Fon language) she recorded with people from villages all acro ss B enin on a trip wit hhe r husband, French producer and compose rJ ean Hebrail.

Her musical offerings ar e ca tholic in thei rr ange. She has performed and recorded wit hin ternational orchestras and symphonies including t he L uxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra with songs b yA merican pianist and composer Philip Glass. In 2018 she released Remain in Light ,a reimagining of Talking Head s's eminal 1980 album. She has performed with her daughter , ac tor and writer Naïma Hebrial Kidjo.

Kidjo is a staunch campaigner on matters of climate change.

Her 2021 Gramm y Aw ard winning album Mother Nature was ,inhe r own words ,a ‘lov e le tte r’ t oo ur beleaguered planet made in collaboration wit hanew generation of African musicians .“If there’s anything the pandemic ha st augh tus ,i t’s tha tw ea r eallapa rt of the same ecosyst em– this planet is all w eha ve,” she wrot ea tt he time of i tsr elease.

Kidjo, who sings in Yorùbá, Fon, and Goun (languages of We st A frica), French and English, says collaborations can be a wa yt o amplif yt he message.

She asked Sting to sing wit h he r on Mother Nature becaus e he was one of t he fi rst one st o talk abo utt he rainforest, she says.

“We kno wt he stat eof the rainfore stt oday. How can we amplif yt he voice of Sting and other activists of climate change who have been a tt he forefront of this?

“I know fr om m y mother’s mothe rw ea r eapa rt of the Eart h– she alwa ys s aid tha tt o me. She wasa healer. She worked with plants .Shehadap rofound respect for beings . Yo u can’t even kill a mosquito… That i sw here I come from.”

Kidjo, 63 ,g re wu p one of nine in an artistic family wher e ed ucation was paramount.

There was always music in the house and she listened t oe verything, from ja zzt o American R& Bt of unk.

Her home was a rehearsal space for her mother’s theatre troupe and as a young girl she longed t o be part of the action. She loved the costumes, the masks, the smell of the makeup. A natural clown, she was always making people laugh, she says.

At t he age of si xs he got her moment. One day some kid in the show didn’t turn up and her mother shoved her on stage. “I almost had a heart attack!”

She was bullied a ts chool fo rs inging, she says. She thanks her maternal grandmother for keeping her on the right path.

“I made a decision Iw asn’t going to sing anymore,” says Kidjo. “She said: “Don’t le tt hem define who you ar e. [ Do] whatever make sy ou happy .Yo u can’t love everybody and it goes both ways . No t everybody can love you but it’s okay, that’s life.”

Her egalitarian parents encouraged discussion about anything and everything. Their mantra was neve rt oj udge anyone b yt he colour of thei rs kin.

So she wa ss hocked when, as a young teen, she learned abo utt he apartheid regime in South Africa. She couldn’t comprehend the horrors going on in a country not far from her own, Benin in We st A frica. “Iw as afraid t om y core,” says Kidjo.

“[ It hought ]m y mum and dad had been lying to me. M ys kin colour could be a liability. That’s when I got mad. I turned around and called them liars.”

She took herself off and wrot ea s ong–a song filled with anger, fear and hatred.

She play ed i tt o he r father ,c rying a ss he sang. “My fathe rs aid ; ‘A ngélique, Iu nderstand ho wy ou feel. But trust me, I kno wy ou .Yo ur heart is no tt here. You ar ej ust afraid and angry . Le t me give you a bi t of advice. No matter how ang ry y ou ar eo r how bad you feel, It old yo ut her ei s no hatred in this house.

‘You as an a rtist are the person that hold st he keys to open all the closed doors . We taugh ty o ut o think… so you better go back and think again and rewrite thi ss ong...’

“So Iw ent back and wrote the song again and made it an anthem of peace.”

And she neve r wr ote about hate again, she says. “Never again. Never ever.”

She continued to write and sing and by 1981 had released her first album, Pretty.

The story of her move t o Pa ris in 1981 – a clandestine departur ef rom a dictatorial communist governmen tt ha tt hreatened to suppress her art – is often told. It included a late night escape and a customs official who was abi t of a fan.

I n Pa ri ss he studied music, performed and recorded througho ut t he 8 0s eventuall ys coring a record deal with Island Records in 1991.

Running alongside her life as am usician is he rr ole as an advocate through he rB atonga Foundation dedicated to supporting young women in Africa.

Batonga – a word she made up when she was being bullied meaning ‘get offm y back’ – was founded in 2006. Its mission i st o help young women in more remot ea rea st o reach thei rs ocial, economic and personal potential. To transform the most vulnerable adolescent girls in Africa int opo werful women. Batonga help st hrough offering scholarships, tutoring, mentoring, uniforms, books, one meal a day. Shoe st oo.

Through mentors, adolescent girls and young women learn skills, understand thei rr ights and set up their ow nb usinesses. The foundation has helped thousands of girls and young women in 22 A frican countries. The young girls and women w ho a r e pa rt of Batonga have learned to speak up, to take control of their lives, she says.

She was brough tt o tea rs w hen she went back to hea rs ome of the girl st elling the leaders of their communities, religious leaders: “No wt ha tw e ha ve Batonga we understand that it’s not okay for a man to pull us by our hair o rt op utt heir hands on o ur breasts or between our legs.

“We ar eno t going to accep tt hat ever anymore. We a r e gi ving you notice tha tw edono tw an tt o be married at 12 and 13-years-old any mor e.Wea re going t o be the one sw ho choose who w ea re going t o ha v ea famil yw ith.”

As aUN ICEF Goodwill Ambassador Kidjo has campaigned for children 's r ights, climate change and girls’ education. Her music ha ss hone a light on the scourge of child marriage and helped spread information t op rotect again st C ovid 19.

He rr eworded version of South African singer Miriam Makeba’s Pata Pata (touch touch in Xhosa) spread information abo utt he virus to millions of people in remote communities around the world.

There ’s t he power of m usic again. And for Kidjo, there’s alwa ys t he joy. Being on stage, performing, it’s Heaven, she sa ys w ith a kind of palpable enthusiasm.

“If Heaven looks like that, the da yI die G od i s in fo r tr ouble. I’m going to make him wake up t om usic day in and day out.

“If ther ea r ealo t of m usician su p there w ea re going to make him feel the talen tt hat he gave us…”

I always say joy is a state of mind; you can choose to live a miserable life or a positive life where joy is at the centre of it.