“Don’t let anyone define you by what you’ve lived through,” Angelique Kidjo tells the sold out crowd in the Somerville Theatre in Massachusetts where I heard her sing in French, Swahili, Yoruba, English. She sang the song “Malaika.” The song hushed 1,000 people in the theatre. It tells the story of a young girl too young to marry but it’s not her choice. Angelique, who is from Benin, is the UNESCO Good Will Ambassador and speaks for the right of all women to be educated. She sings, “One plus one equals two. You and I, we’re all the same.” Here she is in Benin singing “Malaika.”
Categories: Music of Africa