Re-reporting, compiling, editing by Carolyn Bennett
“I sing all over the world and I am trying to show the beauty and richness of Africa to all kinds of different people,” singer Angélique Kidjo said in interview leading into the World Cup games in South Africa. “I spend all my life fighting against what the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie calls the ‘danger of a single story’ of African wars and poverty.
“When traveling to South Africa for the World Cup, I saw headlines on television at the airport: ‘One of the highest crime rates in the world, Colombian team robbed in a hotel room.’ The media want to get back to that ‘single story’!
“But as soon as I landed [in South Africa], I felt the enthusiasm, joy and pride in the air. I went to the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg for a news conference about the World Cup Kick-off Celebration Concert. Contrary to the predictions of the Western media, the great building that looks like a giant calabash was ready in time for the opening match. Instead of making a speech at the news conference, I followed the traditions of Benin and, echoing in an empty stadium, sang a thank-you song. In concert, John Legend and I sang Curtis Mayfield’s 40-year-old classic written for African-American youth. We dedicated ‘Move on Up’ to the African youth.”
During the games, Angélique Kidjo said, “What I like about the game is that it’s unpredictable. Football is one thing that reminds us, as much as music, that we are one and we all have to work together for the same goal, which is living together within our differences and in peace. … Too much ego doesn’t do football any good: if you solo, you are weak but if we work together we all win.”
Her philosophy “about performing live,” Andrew Botsford writes in a feature article before Kidjo’s June performance at Westhampton Beach [New York], “is wrapped around the basic precept that she ‘never takes the public for granted.’ She believes she has a responsibility to ‘be naked spiritually on stage, to open [her] heart.…
“‘When it comes together and the magic happens, it is beautiful. We can all forget that we are divided.’”
Angélique Kidjo (born July 14, 1960, in Quidah, Benin, on Africa’s west coast) is the daughter of an actor, dancer, and theatrical producer from whom she inherited a love of performing. Kidjo debuted on stage with her mother’s theatrical troupe. She has been performing actively since the 1980s. She has also earned credits for social and political activism and humanitarian work. Her latest album “Oyo,” released in April, features soul songs in tribute to the musical influences: Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up,” James Brown’s “Cold Sweat”; and a new take, “Monfe Ran,” on the Aretha Franklin version of “Baby I Love You,” performed in duet with Dianne Reeves. Angélique Kidjo calls Reeves “the greatest jazz singer in the world.”
My talent,
Angélique Kidjo says,
is more important than where I come from.
Sources and notes
Angélique Kidjo appeared in interview today with Jian Ghomeshi on the CBC’s Q program, July 8, 2010, http://www.cbc.ca/q/ “What it was like to sing at the World Cup” (Guest blogger Angélique Kidjo), June 28, 2010, http://content.usatoday.com/communities/popcandy/post/2010/06/guest-blogger-what-it-was-like-to-sing-at-the-world-cup/1
“Angélique Kidjo celebrates musical diversity” (Ashante Infantry, Entertainment Reporter), June 25, 2010, http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/article/827619--angelique-kidjo-celebrates-musical-diversity
“Angélique Kidjo returns to Performing Arts Center” (Andrew Botsford, the East Hampton Press and the Southampton Press), mailbag@27east.com , the Press News Group
Angélique Kidjo biography, http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Kidjo,_Angelique/Biography/
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