Mother Nature

Angélique Kidjo and nature are linked from a very close relationship. Not only because the African artist is a sincere, consistent, committed environmentalist, but because nature is expressed through her and her art. Anyone who has seen her even once on stage, even for a few minutes, knows that Angélique Kidjo is not just another artist, that she is explosive, unstoppable, powerful, energetic, passionate. And above all, she brings Africa to the stage, with all its load of emotions, dramas, joys, problems and life. Africa that saw her born, in Benin, at the dawn of the 1960s, in a poor family but in which art reigned supreme, with her mother a choreographer and actress, and a brother a musician. And it was to dance and music that the very young Angélique devoted herself, finding her way in a country, Benin precisely, that is extraordinarily rich in diverse cultures, being populated from more than forty ethnic groups, many of whom speak different languages.

Angélique sings in ron, her native language, as well as in Yoruba and French, the official language of Benin, and slowly succeeds to in building a good deal of success, in the 1970s, both at home and in other African countries, from Togo to the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso to Cameroon. And it was in Cameroon that she met Ekambi Brillant, a producer and musician who began to collaborating with her and urged her to go to France to to seek her fortune. And it is to Paris that her adventure in the world of music enters a new phase, in which Angélique greatly expands her musical background, gets to know jazz and pop, comes into contact with great stars who appreciate her vocality, style and energy, in a decade full of collaborations, experiments, concerts and dreams. That came to fruition in 1990 with her first solo album, which propelled her into an even greater and truly boundless universe.

from then Angélique Kidjo's career and art have taken a thousand paths, the Beninese artist has become a citizen of the world, collaborations with stars of jazz, pop, rock, and African music have sprung up, an extraordinarily long list of artists who have sought her out and loved her and wanted to play and sing with her, from Manu Di Bango to Carlos Santana, from Buddy Guy to Alicia Keys, from Peter Gabriel to Branford Marsalis, from Tony Allen to Youssou N'Dour, all the way to Italy's Carmen Consoli, with whom she recorded the beautiful Mother Earth. She has had awards, accolades, triumphs, won as many as four Grammys, played on all five continents, knowing great success everywhere. But most of all, she has become one of the most original artists of our time, able to move with incredible confidence and creativity between rock, jazz, electronic, pop, polyrhythm, funk, dance, and above all always remaining deeply African. She is able to flesh out the music of the Kronos Quartet like to that of the Talking Heads, to that of Celia Cruz like to that of Philip Glass, to be alongside music history makers like Dr. John and pop stars like John Mayer.

And it is not enough, because Angélique Kidjo is one of the most committed artists on the social front: it is not just a matter of words or attitudes, the artist and the woman are not separate, her battle is constant and daily, on the front of peace and defense of the environment, minorities and women, with an inclusive and unified message that is closely connected to her music. Ambassador for UNICEF, animator of Batonga, her association for the primary and secondary schooling of young Africans, committed from always on the environmental front, Angélique Kidjo tells above all about the Africa of women, as she did beautifully in her autobiography, Spirit Rising, dedicated in particular to the younger generations, those who will not only inherit the world but who, as she claims, will change Africa: "I hope that this story can inspire many girls in Africa to insist to to dream in earnest. It will be their dreams and their fortitude to change the continent, it's my heart telling me." She dreams, Angélique, but she knows very well that the difficulties are enormous, that poverty is the first problem from to be faced, "because it conditions everything," she recalls, "first of all health, both mental and physical, particularly of young people. And then it prevents access to education, a key element in the development of the entire continent, because those who have access to culture also have access to politics, and of course to democracy, it is an extraordinary instrument of freedom. I also dream that, finally, it can change the narrative of Africa, which is always about poverty and endless wars, which everyone accepts as if the whole continent has only this face. Instead, Africa is full of different cultures, diversity, beauty, and wonders, which we Africans ourselves often don't know about, and in many ways no one wants that to happen, because if we knew how to tell our story and our reality well, with our own means, our own ways and our own content, things could really change. But cultural colonialism from us has never ended, so many, too many countries are not really independent."

It is no coincidence that Time, a few months ago, reported her as one of the 100 most influential personalities of 2021, that the BBC did the same the year before, that to celebrate the anniversary of Benin's independence the New York Times put her on the front page, that Amnesty International honored her as one of the most influential activists in the defense of personal freedoms. Angélique Kidjo proves by her life and commitment that music, art, can be a beautiful tool for peace, for inclusiveness, for human growth, personal and collective. Passion and nature, politics and life, freedom and art, meet in Angélique Kidjo's music, which is made of flesh and blood, of heart and poetry, of rhythm and warmth, is rooted in the oldest Africa and at the same time has the strength of one who knows how to live the contemporary while imagining the future. It is music for the body and the mind, which finds its manifestation in the expressive power of her singing, her stage presence, and the strength of her dance, which over the years have captured the attention of millions of spectators of her shows, who have experienced how her art is powerfully alive and vital, charged with beauty and feeling, an unstoppable flow of emotions and thoughts, of experimentation and fun, of anger and visions. The highly original and personal music of one of the greatest artists of our time.

Ernesto Assante