Angelique Kidjo on the front page of the New York Times to celebrate her birthday and the anniversary of Benin Independence
The Beninese vocalist Angélique Kidjo was born into one of the most hopeful moments of the 20th century. Just two weeks after her birth in 1960 — in Ouidah, Dahomey — her country finally gained independence from France.
It was one of 17 African nations to declare independence that year.
“Music that comes from Africa and that went somewhere, it eventually comes back to Africa, it’s that back-and-forth that we tend to wipe out.”
As she grew up, breathing the air of new freedom, Kidjo came to see that by ridding itself of colonialism, Africa had not shut itself off from the rest of the world. African people were already spread across the globe, and so were elements of their music and culture. Listening to black music from all over on her family’s stereo, she felt as if she was receiving a report from afar.