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Read Angelique Kidjo’s Grammy Award Acceptance Speech

By Michael Bamidele

27 January 2020   |   9:46 am

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Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo picked up a Grammy award in the World Best Music Album category at the 62nd Grammy Awards for her album, Celia. During her acceptance speech, Kidjo dedicated the award to Burna Boy, who she described as one of the young artists from Africa changing the way Africa is perceived. "Four years…

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 26: Angelique Kidjo accepts the Best World Music Album award for “Celia” onstage during the 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony at Microsoft Theater on January 26, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. Timothy Norris/Getty Images/AFP

Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo picked up a Grammy award in the World Best Music Album category at the 62nd Grammy Awards for her album, Celia.

During her acceptance speech, Kidjo dedicated the award to Burna Boy, who she described as one of the young artists from Africa changing the way Africa is perceived.

“Four years ago on this stage, I was telling you that the new generation of artists coming from Africa are going to take you by storm. And the time has come.

“This is for Burna Boy.

“Burna Boy is among those young artists that come from Africa that is changing the way our continent is perceived and the way African music has been the bedrock of every music.”

This is Angelique Kidjo’s fourth Grammy win in nine nominations, first of those nominations came in 1995. Her first win came in 2007 in the Best Contemporary World Music category. She also picked a Grammy each in the Best World Music Album category in 2014 and 2015 for the albums Eve and Sings respectively.

Kidjo’s tribute to Cuban singer Celia Cruz was released on April 19, 2019. The album includes songs spanning all of Celia’s Cruz career reinvented with an Afrobeat feel.

African Giant is Burna Boy’s fourth studio album. It was released on July 26, 2019, features Kidjo on the song “Different”. The album’s fifth single “Anybody” samples Angelique Kidjo’s “We We”. The fourteenth track “Different” features Kidjo alongside Damian Marley.