…dedicates award to Burna Boy
Legendary French-Beninois singer and songwriter, Angelique Kidjo, has emerged winner of the Best World Album category at the Grammy Awards, beating Nigeria’s Afrofusion singer, Burna Boy.
Her album, ‘Celia’, was nominated alongside Burna Boy’s ‘African Giant’. Others in the category included Altin Gun for “Gece”, Bokante & Metropole Orkest conducted by Jule Buckely, “What Heat”, Nathalie Joachim with Spektral Quartet and “Fanm d’Azur.
Described by Time Magazine as “Africa’s premier diva”, Kidjo is famous for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. It’s her fourth Grammy award.
At the award ceremony in Los Angeles last night, Kidjo, who starred in Kunle Afolayan’s CEO movie in 2014, dedicated her award to Burna Boy in a short acceptance speech, which affirmed that a fresh revolution had started for African music and is being led by the younger generation of talented artistes.
However, with his nomination, Burna Boy has joined a host of other Nigerians like Femi Kuti, Seun Kuti and King Sunny Ade, who had been previously nominated in the same category at the Grammy Awards.
Other Nigerian previous nominees include Babatunde Olatunji, Wizkid, Timaya and Kah Lo. However, Sikiru Adepoju won the Grammy in 1991 & 2009 and remains the only Nigerian to have done so.
Here is a list of winners in some of the awards categories. The complete list of more than 80 categories can be found on grammy.com
Record of the Year – ‘Bad Guy’ Billie Eilish
Album of the Year – ‘When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go’ Billie Eilish
Song of the Year – ‘Bad Guy’ Billie Eilish, O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell
Best New Artist – Billie Eilish
Best Rap Album – ‘Igor’ Tyler, The Creator
Best Rap Song – ‘A Lot’ 21 Savage ft. J.Cole
Best Traditional R&B Performance – ‘Jerome’ Lizzo
Best R&B Song – ‘Say So’ PJ Morton ft. Jojo
Best R&B Album – ‘Ventura’ Anderson Paak
Best Pop Solo Performance – ‘Truth Hurts’ Lizzo
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance – ‘Old Town Road’ Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus
Best Pop Vocal Album – ‘When We All Fall Asleep
Where Do We Go’ Billie Eilish
Best Spoken Word Album – ‘Becoming’ Mitchell Obama
Best World Music Album – ‘Celia’ Angelique Kidjo