Angélique Kidjo is a five-time Grammy winner, the recipient of 2015 Crystal Award presented by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and the 2016 Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award.
In her official biography, she is defined as “one of the greatest artists in international music today, a creative force with sixteen albums to her name”.
Time Magazine has defined her as “Africa’s premier diva”, and named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world for 2021. The BBC has included her in its list of the continent’s 50 most iconic figures, and in 2011 The Guardian listed her as one of their Top 100 Most Inspiring Women in the World.
We could go on, and on, and on trying to define this incredible artist and activist, but the real thing is that nobody will never be able to put a label on Angélique Kidjo and on her music.
No matter what she does or what she sings – if she is (re)interpreting the Talking Heads’ classic album “Remain in Light” or if she is paying tribute to the great Celia Cruz with her album Celia – she is always doing it combining the West-African traditions of her childhood with elements of R&B, funk, jazz and influences from traditions and music heritage coming from all over the world.
In her latest album, Mother Nature, she decided to break barriers again and teamed up with artists like Sampa the Great, Yemi Alade, or the Nigerian superstar Burna Boy, all belonging to a new generation of African singers, songwriters, musicians and performers, to whom she opened the doors to the international music stage.
In her new concert at the Philarmonie, Angélique Kidjo is accompanied by Alexandre Tharaud, a pianist with a career spanning almost 30 years and with a repertoire ranging from Couperin, Bach and Scarlatti, through Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, Brahms, and Rachmaninov.
This concert is about love, the words it inspires and the suffering it brings. These two artists, both renowned for projects at the interface of styles and genres, have entered an explosive yet logical alliance. Tharaud has recorded a CD of works by Erik Satie featuring another vocalist, Juliette, and the recording Angélique Kidjo sings with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg” won a Grammy Award in 2016. This encounter, celebrating the love that Josephine Baker, Édith Piaf and Claude Nougaro sang about, is another milestone on two artistic pathways meeting here at this amazing venue.
Angélique Kidjo & Alexandre Tharaud – “Les Mots d’Amour”
Angélique Kidjo vocals
Alexandre Tharaud piano
