Angélique Kidjo Honored With David Rockefeller Award

ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO RECEIVES DAVID ROCKEFELLER BRIDGING LEADERSHIP AWARD IN RECOGNITION OF INTERNATIONAL ACTIVISM AND HUMANITARIAN WORK

Angélique Kidjo, West African singer, songwriter, activist, UNICEF International Goodwill Ambassador and founder of the Batonga Foundation has just been honored with a 2015 David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award by global nonprofit Synergos, dedicated to addressing complex problems of poverty and inequality around the world. The honor was bestowed upon Kidjo and co-honoree Ratan N. Tata at the organization’s annual University for a Night Gala, and places Kidjo in the company of past recipients including Kofi Annan, Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, Jennifer and Peter Buffett, Mo Ibrahim, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Zainab Salbi and, of course, David Rockefeller.

The award recognizes leadership that exemplifies working together for the common good and brings together people and groups in unlikely partnerships in order to improve the world. The event itself serves as an opportunity for experts from around the globe to come together, network and brainstorm in discussions dedicated to specific areas of concern relating to poverty, environmental degradation, poor health, malnutrition and other critical global challenges. Kidjo spoke about her life’s work, performed for the assembled guests and took part in a discussion about creating prosperous, sustainable and inclusive societies in Africa. Additionally, she will take part in Synergos’ Global Philanthropist Circle meeting, which brings together a dynamic network of leading philanthropic families from across the world committed to using their time, influence and resources to fight global poverty and social injustice.

Kidjo has a long history of global activism and humanitarian work both as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and through her Batonga Foundation, dedicated to the empowerment of young girls in Africa through secondary school and higher education. Her new LP, Sings with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, is out now via 429 Records, and is winning raves around the world. The Australian calls it “a truly beautiful album…arguably her most ambitious,” praising its “majesty and grandeur” and Kidjo’s “superlative voice,” while MTV Iggy notes that Kidjo “takes on a larger-than- life persona as she performs with the orchestra with confidence and ease.” Produced by Kidjo and husband/long-time production partner Jean Hebrail, the album re-imagines nine classic songs from her expansive repertoire and two new songs from the Eve sessions, the 2014 album that earned Kidjo her second Grammy Award.

ABOUT ANGELIQUE KIDJO

Angelique Kidjo is a beloved two-time Grammy Award winner, longtime UNICEF goodwill ambassador and a recipient of this year’s Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum. Her accolades span a 20-year discography and thousands of concerts around the world. She has enjoyed a long history of notable collaborations with greats from the jazz and pop worlds including Carlos Santana, Bono, John Legend, Josh Groban, Peter Gabriel, Branford Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Roy Hargrove and Alicia Keys. In an expansive career marked as much by extraordinary musical achievement as passionate advocacy and philanthropy for her African homeland, Kidjo has found many ways to celebrate the rich, enlightening truth about the continent’s women beyond the media spotlight.