Nigerian musician (singer and songwriter), Burna Boy has lost the 62nd Grammy Award to Beninese, Angélique Kidjo whose Real name is, Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, Burna Boy’s first studio album titled “African Giant” was nominated in the 2020 World Music Album Award category along with others including;
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Conducted By Jules Buckley AFRICAN GIANT Burna Boy FANM D’AYITI Nathalie Joachim With Spektral Quartet CELIA Angelique Kidjo The Grammy Award nominees are albums containing at least 51% playing time of new vocal or instrumental World Music recordings.
28-year-old Burna Boy in 2019, won Best International Act at the 2019 BET Awards, and was also the Apple Music’s Up Next artist. Angelique Kidjo, 59-year-old singer-songwriter, actress, and activist is noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. She was remarked “Africa’s premier diva” by Time magazine in 2007.
However, She is known for her hit songs which include “Agolo”, “We We”, “Adouma”, “Wombo Lombo”, “Afirika”, “Batonga”, and her version of “Malaika”. This year’s win marks her fourth win in the category and fourth GRAMMY win overall.
During her acceptance speech, Kidjo celebrated a new generation of African artists coming up to represent the continent while thanking luminaries who came before her for their contributions to world music, including Celia Cruz. “Four years ago on this stage, I was telling you that the new generations of artists coming from Africa gonna take you by storm and the time has come,” Kidjo said. “Celia Cruz, for me she’s the goddess of salsa. She’s the queen of salsa. She is one of those artists that taught me at a young age that my gender cannot define who I am, that I can do everything I wanted to do.”
