5-time Grammy award-winner, singer, songwriter and humanitarian Angélique Kidjo is visiting Athens this week as UGA’s Willson Center for Humanities and Arts Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding.
The Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding was established to bring leading artists and innovators to Athens to use arts and the humanities to engage with the community and foster a greater understanding of global perspectives.
Kidjo’s three-day residency as Chair kicked off with a conversation with students in a UGA survey class in world music Tuesday, followed by a live taping of WUGA’s "African Perspectives" Wednesday night at the 40 Watt with host Dr. Akinloyè Òjó. Both events were open to the public.
Speaking Wednesday to the idea of globalization, Kidjo said, “How can we have so much poverty around the globe? Because you cannot live in a world where many people live in filth and few live largely… Nature don’t like imbalance… Globalization will only exist fully, and really profiting everybody when we all together refuse a system that disenfranchises people”
She also spoke about some of the inspiration behind her new album, HOPE!!
“My mom says everything starts with hope," she said, "That hope is the beginning of life...and hope is a given gift at birth. We all have it. I know a lot of things that are going on around the world is kind of really…I mean, challenging, but let’s keep our focus on hope, and do what we can to go by every day. Joy is an act of resistance.”
The full interview will be part of an upcoming episode of "African Perspectives", airing Sunday afternoons at 4pm on WUGA.
Tonight, Angélique Kidjo will conclude her residency with a UGA Performing Arts Center performance at Hodgson Concert Hall.
