 All right, I want to welcome you all here and to those of you joining us on the web for our conversation with Angelique Kijo, I will tell you I was just a little while ago with with Tony Blair having any of you with him and later on I'll be with the head of the World Bank Jim Young Kim and I'm for all of these other things I'm dressed quite appropriately, but I feel like a tool right now But they did say it's fireside chat style right so at least I'm not I didn't change into my presentation shoes These are the shoes I would wear if I'm sitting with a friend here. It's okay. So that's that's why we're here I like the way you look anyway. Thank you. Thank you so much. You're sharp. I like it. I like elegance, man. Thank you We are gonna have a fantastic conversation with all of you but before I do that you are a recipient of the of the Crystal Award here at the World Economic Forum and by Because of some mishap on the plane that you were coming in and I'm glad it was a small one You weren't able to get in for the ceremony and you'll tell us the story momentarily about that But I want to invite Hilda Schwab up here to present the award that you were going to get the other Let me say just a few words that you are really the happy crowd who can see her close up I'm not far away on the stage. So I'm very happy To present this award to Anjali Kijo for being an outstanding artist But also for being concerned and committed to doing things for humanity. Thank you so much. Thank you so much So, um I want to dedicate this award to The women of my continent They are the backbone of Africa every day. There's no day that goes by Without them doing something to make the life of the children their family their community and the country better I cannot be who I am today without those women For starting from my mother my grandmother's my father is my champion I think my father have have saved manhood for all of you guys Because he was the man that loved women completely Supporting my mom in her endeavor and us girls always urging us Learn go to school to be able to be in charge of your future and to all the women of the world What you do is priceless. We are not recognized for what we do. It's not a matter of color It's not a matter of language. It's not a matter of nationality. We just have to come together and create a Society of women that will deal with the problem of the world with men that love women and support women In every shape or form because we need them on our side to be able to break the Glass ceiling to be able to raise our kid boys and girls Decently and create a world of peace and love. Thank you so much Let's display it through the course of the the time that we are here So many things that we we want to cover in the next hour. I was at an event last night Tina Brown had an event With women and it was remarkable. Sister Rosemary from Uganda was there. She was one of the recipients And there were a smattering of men in the hall. I think some because we had to serve the food But she said you're useful for something right the men but the men who were invited She said the men who are here are the ones who? Will support women who will understand that that this is what the job we have to do we for too long controlled everything Let's let's show that we can support The women around us who are who are strong and capable and you are so much of that, but let's go right back I I like you. I'm a child of Africa. I was born in in Nairobi Because my parents had to leave South Africa because they were anti-apartheid activists But I grew up with the sounds of Miriam McCabe as did you and she was an influence a musical influence for you What did she represent to you? Well when I start listening to music that come from around the world apart from the traditional music in which I grew up in My brother decided to have a musical band and my father bought the instrument for them, but they were cover band. They would play Jimi Hendrix James Brown Jackson 5 all the music that was there the Rolling Stones the Beatles everything was home It was a kind of collect collection of music that was eclectic yet very interesting for me So that's the first time I was encountered with the language English because beneath is Frank speaking country Well, I hear different languages and on the cover of the albums all I can see was men white male black male and some few African-American male female and I'm like in my little head of girls. I'm like if you're an African girl, can you have any album? Can you have any career? Can you do any of these or just you can you're just talking during the talk? There were not many examples. There are not many examples and here comes The album of Miriam McCabe the album potato with a bare shoulder with that golden Hat that she had on and one of the songs that That made it out to the world very early. It wasn't just an African song. It is just like crazy And I was like, who's this and this is she's from South Africa. I'm like, huh an African woman That is on the cover of an album and doing it internationally. I want to be her If she can do it, so can I that's where it started and I was fortunate enough to have met Miriam I opened for her in 1989 at the old Olympia all in Paris And I always refused to explain South Africa during apathetic and after apathetic I was invited in 1996 to play there and I told her was coming. She was already there So I call her she can and she said come home my child come with that sweet and lovely voice Come home. I thought okay. We got arrived there for lunch and I look at the table She cook a storm. I'm not like me. I'm you think I'm gonna eat all this She raised my my recent girl you too skinny. You're gonna eat we're gonna pass you You're gonna have dinner all the way to 10 p.m. I'm like, I'm gonna eat for noon to 10 p.m She say yes, you take a break and you eat and she's a great cook and one of the first thing she taught me is Never go on stage with a watch And I say why and then she said when you have a watch on your wrist The temptation to look at the clock is greater than if you don't have any That being on stage and doing this means you sending a message to your public saying you get in board and it's about time to leave I'm like, okay, and since then I never wear watch on stage ever Music to you is Transporting and it's it's universal and I want to get to that in a second But when you just received the award you spoke of your father both your mother and your father remarkable influence in your life But tell me why your father is such an influence in you being a strong woman Well, my father was the only child boy of a mom of his mom and he didn't know his father He was his father was gone before he was born and my grandmother have never been to school Doesn't know how to read or write but was determined that my father was gonna go to school And my father traveled out of the country to go to school because at that time French government was sending people That was succeeding in school to go over overseas to become the one that work in the Administration and my father became the second to to run the post office when we start post office in Benin and When he married my mom my mom also have been to school so both of them were already huge advocate of education and I'm realizing the scope of The impact that my father have in my life Once I left and I become adult enough to understand What sacrifices that went through to send 10 children to school with one salary? book uniform tutoring everything needed and My mom has passion for theater So one day she decided she was gonna have a theater group No support from nobody. She wrote the piece Do the costume the mask everything the lightning also my mom was Like a maestro of the theater and I was six years old and I will see everybody coming in see the costume It was dancing singing and I will know I will learn every part and the dancing and the singing part and from the moment my mom start touring with that troop Two seconds after she left home people start coming to my father saying Frank Who's wearing the pant in your house? And my father goes what you mean? Are you gonna let your wife go with all those people around? Who's gonna cook for you? Who's gonna take care of you? You should tell her not to do that And I wrote a song based on the phrase of my life that a response of my father the song is called lullaby My daughter sang on it My father said specifically this when you love somebody you have to set the person free Love is not it is not a jet cell If my wife is happy, I'm the most fortunate in the most richest person on the planet So if you don't mind you can leave Interesting you In and amongst all of this traveling in these troops and these rehearsals that your mother would have as a Choreographer, you were learning languages. Absolutely, you know, I I grew up in Canada where they're still fighting about French versus English Evergrande speaking all these other languages have come in and in America you still go places where they're shopkeepers It's a English only In in in Africa, it's quite typical for people to speak more than one language If you want to get yourself understood. Yeah, and so you speak in four and you sing in five Tell me what they are and why there's one more that you sing I sing more than in five languages I think in French. I think in English. I think in Portuguese I think sometimes in Spanish. I think in phone. I think in Mina. I think in Yoruba and I think in Goon Wow, sometimes I sing Zulu. Wow, the clothes I can't do like I'm gonna say I'm gonna say I could understand all those until the end of the Zulu Every time I have to do that, I ask the South African backing singer, I say you pick that part up and I do the other one It's too complicated and the reason I ask you about the languages is because you you've sort of Created your own language you you you have this language. Tell me about this Well, there's one thing that I I learned One day I was in the village of my father and there was ceremony and people singing and dancing and we were just doing it And then suddenly I stopped paying attention to the world. I'm like, ooh, this is gruesome and everybody's dancing. What is that? So I had an uncle and every time he saw me come in my nickname in my family in my village When why how I asked so much question before I come to say this is the deal. You have no question I say yes. Yes, and I sit down and start asking questions because you don't ask you don't know right, right? So I went to my uncle. I said What is that the lyrics is so horrible and people are dancing on it and he set me aside and said As an artist what you want to achieve You want to lecture people you want to make them feel guilty or you want to empower them I Say in power, of course He said that's your role use the music. Let them dance on it. The message is heavy Let them make the decision what they're gonna do about that message It's not your job to make people feel guilty when you're on stage It's your job to empower them bring the problems that you want to talk about Bring it in a way that it doesn't put a weight on people's shoulder But lift them up to say we can tackle and we can we can do something about it That's what it is about and then I go about and say, okay, I understand that but how do you write a song? How do you know a song is a good song? He said I wish I have the answer for you But one thing I know that can tell you right now is that is the song is made of three things the melody the rhythm and the language When you once you start being inspired You see those differently well once you put your inspiration and you don't Distract from it. You don't try to make it sound too poppy. You don't want to make it You leave the truth of that inspiration out You yourself once the song is completed you cannot say which one come first Which one comes second which one come third? It's just it's blended into the whole and become one sound. Yeah, so for me when I'm inspired a word comes to me I don't understand what it is. I don't take that word out. I Don't I mean I wrote this song called one balloon boo I mean that one balloon world comes to me because the inspiration was What you can do with your body when you were dancer? And this is also kind of musician because the way you move the way you have a choreography setup you have The verse the chorus and the bridge in the way you dance You cannot dance the same type of movement all the time because your body you've done has put too much stress on so far of your body, so One balloon before we mean me was represented the wave of a dancer that I've seen dancing And you wonder if the person have a bone because every move is just so smooth And the way he learned the way he lift himself up the way you just take the space For me it was wombo-lumbo Just like wobbly like this like a kid would invent a word exactly and I invent batonga too Yeah, I invented the name of your foundation. Yes. It's the name of my first foundation because when I was in secondary school First of all when I started singing I was very young and when I hear people to kick kicking at around 12 I have people following me after school who spit at me throw stone and stand and me calling me prostitute because I was a singer and and My grandma have taught me after that that I just have to decide for me what is good for me don't let people tell you what you gotta do and When you I in secondary school started you have the bullies everywhere you have bullies and I remember two big giant guy when I come in the first year of high school and They said to me come and clean my feet. I look at them and say you clean yourself They say you do it or be I say you try to beat me come on. I got brothers. I have seven brothers You want to run? As soon as I say they say oh in the walk away, but it doesn't stop there some of them managed to have they can kind of wooden Pole and they'll put mirror They'll break mirror and pieces and they would tie it on it And they would try to see under your skirt if what color is your underwear and it just all those things And they just like and I will come back home tell my father. I'm angry. I want to slap somebody my father always used to say to me Physical fight you already lose the battle Use your brain is your ultimate weapon beat those stupid guys. Tell them something. They think they know all about it Just find something come up with a word or something that you will throw at them and they will try to what they Bring in their mind around it to understand. You're already gone So I'm like, okay You're a free girlfriend will bite to school one big one one smaller one somebody smaller than me. Can you imagine it exists? so So on the way and then when I would get home schooling and how you start hearing all those coming look at this one Yappy yappy and I go batonga. They go, huh? What did you say? And it means to me for it was my mantra it means to me I will be whoever I decide to be I would do whatever I want to do it. There's none of your business and you can't stop me but Tonga Tonga We should all use that word. That's it. Don't let anybody get into your space. Tell them but Tonga I'm gonna try that You talked about your brothers who would do this cover music James Brown and Jimmy Hendrix That influenced you as well. You seem to you seem to be somebody who grabs influences from anything you see and like Well, that's what the traditional music is about That's what the traditional musician told me if the music doesn't evolve. It doesn't exist right traditional music music have to follow modernity because my ancestor five Century ago the song that they were singing was their reality today is a different reality So you can just do what you have to do and do it right So for me my father always used to tell us be open to the world read books about other culture Listen to music. That's why he allowed my brother and allowed us to listen to music And they're also my mom and dad always used to tell us a human being is not a matter of color You do not come back to this house and tell me you feel because you're black. That's when you're gonna see something Give people the benefits of the doubt and gauge in conversation with people and The house the the way our house was built. It was open forum My parents say there would never be any taboo subject at the exception of racism xenophobia and anti-semitism those were not allowed home and One day. I just saw my brother My father brought a friend of his brought an album of Jimi Hendrix and he has that huge Afro, right? My brother was born bald. No hair. Nothing wrong with that I'm talking and looking at your head But he wanted to have the hair of Jimi Hendrix to play the guitar So he went ahead and bought the Afro we can put it on and I was nine years old I walked into the room. I say man like did you need a week to play guitar? And then he goes I want to look like that guy on the cover. I'm like, by the way, I want to ask you He's African. What language is this thing in it? Remember I said Question question I say answer me And he goes he's African-American nine years old. I turn around say you think I'm stupid because I'm nine years old How can you be African-American at the center? Well, he's a slave descendant I say what is this leave? What is it descendant? You hadn't really heard that And then he's so you know what I gotta practice my guitar go ask grandma So I went and asked my grandma my father's nine years old and for the first time You are trying to figure out what a slave is and what a descendant is and how they come together to come to make Jim Jimi Hendrix. Absolutely That's exactly the thing and whether they all have hair like that So my grandma start telling me the story of slavery. I'm like This look like she's losing her mind. I'm like I that's I mean out of respect I didn't tell her you crazy, but you couldn't conceive of it No, because I mean my father's mom and said that's a human being not a matter of color Come how can that be possible? All of a sudden your grandmother's telling you that in fact This whole thing happened. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. You're crazy man. That's that you old man Your brain is fried forget it, but I didn't say that because if I say that I get my butt bitten So I didn't say that and when I turned 15 We were smuggling to the TV of Nigeria because at that time being in new TV. Oh, man, forget it You don't want to watch it So we would be somebody will be on the roof and we go no left right. No, no, no, right there So it many becomes clear we start watching the news and then here come Winnie Mandela talking about Nelson Mandela I was 15 and that's what the first time ever heard about apathy And in that living room I turn around to my mom and dad and say how dare you lie into me Telling me that I have to give the benefit of the doubt to other people when do we are treated like this and I get so mad I will never forget how mad I was shaking. I was so mad and my dad I've never seen me like that. My dad never loses I mean it's temple never because he's always thinking straight And I went to my room and wrote a song called as an aque which mean the day will come And I came out when I finished writing my song and I walk into the living room. It was was there And I start singing the song and my father listen never stop me till I finish and he said to me I understand how angry you are. I Understand every feeling you try to express in this song But if you don't rewrite this song, you're never gonna sing again because music has nothing to do with hate And there will never be hate and violence. It was actually remarkably violent hateful song I swear to God. I was just like Kill them all and my father said no you and killing nobody You as an artist You are the person To open close doors You are the one that have to be bridged and bridges among us because music allows you to reach out to people Music allows you to give people the courage to speak against injustice You cannot just sit here because you're mad and you blabbing hate all of the places No way and that planted the seed of music as being universal Absolutely, and I went back and read language free of absolutely, you know and the second thing I mean I rewrite the song and it becomes actually an anthem of peace The same song that first song you completely rewrite it And I said in the song the one that I recorded actually it becomes a song in which I said I'm dreaming of a world when when one day There will be no more oppressor and no more oppressed people that will all leave accepting each other's differences of opinion color language and religion and You I'm just I mean I'm just thinking about it for a second this is you were talking about your influences with Maryam Makaba and You were a singer as a woman in Benin and you said that they called you a prostitute There was no profession of being a female singer Pop singer. No, no, no when you are a traditional singer, you okay, right? You have a status when you start singing with what the elderly people used to call and still some of them call them Evil instruments like drum and guitar because sex drug and rock and roll don't don't get it wrong. It came to Africa That's where rock and roll is not really popular in Africa because all the parents are just like you Drug and naked women doing this when you a boy the cut nobody wants you to date the girl I said music is not a job. Come on. Get out of here. You are you're hustler. I mean it's just like and till today It is still impacted some career that we some beautiful great voice that we are not able to hear today because There's no support. No, not everybody's like my father that produced my first show when I went in France Paris in the 80s To record my album and the promote local promoter that was supposed to produce this show So to my father two weeks before the show poster have been done. Everything happened. I cannot produce your charge It's too little. Nobody gonna see on stage In my father turn around and say I do you hear your stupid comment who told you that talent have anything to do with the size or hair Before I move on to your your to batonga the foundation I want to ask you one more thing about music Many of your listeners and your fans do not understand the languages in which you speak about a very small proportion of your songs are in English But you don't like the label world music I'll take that as no Who come up with that word? I'm curious myself because I didn't really understand what it meant And that's how my Miriam put it one day. He went base Basel in Switzerland after its festival And they put us under the banner of world music. She was mad as hell Miriam when she's mad. You don't want to be around She's like who is the stupid guy that want to call it third world music and somebody told him Politically collect to put a third in that just became world music. I mean who they are to tell us world music They are playing our music since the end of time blues without Africa. It doesn't exist rock-n-roll I'm like she won. I'm like you got a point girlfriend and that is true because here I am being raised in the African country in poor family where The world is brought to me through culture And then I have to justify the music I do when I come to the Western world because people are so Stuck up in their cliche saying you African you have to do traditional music You have to dress like this and you have not to you cannot be articulate You cannot be educated because we don't have we don't have plan for you guys yet The coffin is not ready for those kind of people already and here I am and bursted in and I sing in every language and I want us even singing into you I mean believe it or not because I love Indian movie. I grew up in it Yeah, you too If I can do it everybody can this is officially the best Let me ask you about about batonga because I want to I want to get that then because you are so much more than this This idol and this this Inspiration to everybody you have never stopped giving back And you understand that people like you would not exist if not for the ability for girls to get educated and get Respect in Africa and and you are dealing with some of the basics including that bicycle You said that you rode to school with your friend You're making sure girls get that but that they get real educations do at a higher level. Absolutely. Tell me about batonga well batonga started in 2006 actually Because as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador that we come campaigns relentlessly for primary education Because that was not even there the right to education is human rights Yet in Africa still we have problem with it. Even though since we start the campaign in 2002 about girls education enrollment have went rocket But Now we have quality education that is becoming a problem today. The teacher needs to be up to date But what we were forgetting that have been remind to me by a mother in Tanzania Was that if the girl finished primary education and you don't put them in secondary education You give the father all the rights and all the argument he needs to marry those girls off so She told me that and I start scratching my head. I'm gonna do this with the schedule of an artist Touring all around the world. You cannot do it all. I mean don't don't don't fool yourself Not nobody can do tons of things together and make it right So I wanted to find people that can support me in this So a friend of mine have put me in contact with two lawyers out of Washington. Marie Louise going in John Phillips John Phillips today is the ambassador of the US in in in Italy They had a fund already they were doing little things in Africa and I said they asked me what do you want to do? I say I want to invest in secondary education of girls and I want to target the girls that come from extreme poverty background HIV AIDS orphans disabled girls and I want an holistic approach to this I want not only giving the Detention I want to give the uniform the books Tutoring and mentoring and one meal a day because most of those girls don't have food So we give them money for them to buy their own food because when it comes to food you have Tradition here you cannot do that and that's why I'm not into boarding school business because they wanted it because the distance are far so We started back in 2006 Tom's have donated more than 300,000 shoes to my girls because they walk barefoot to go That's a company. That's company. Yeah, absolutely. And We started this With USAID that came to me the first and said we have girls in primary education We're looking for somebody that will start the secondary education. Let's get on board with you So what we do basically is that we follow the program of the country, but the program profit all the kids I don't want my kids to be in different I want them to go to school with boys and girls of the country and this the shoes profit to all other kids also you don't want to create jealousy and What we do also is that we work with Africa right now to be latrine and Water clean water. So two years ago. I went to one school and the girls were happy that they have the toilet That's so important. People don't think about it boys and girls in the same school Girls toilet at that age in when you're talking about teenage age is crucial for them to stay in school or to drop out of school And they're asking me they were telling me thank you. I say yes. This is just the beginning of your job you gotta make sure that Latin is clean every time you come out the soap that I provide you wash your hand And you take your you take turn and you take care of it and they are so proud to do that and it's also I give them a second chance if you you can you can do Class twice if you get pregnant you want to come back you can come back because you gotta give those girls everything that they need to really go to school because they The odds against them are too great and I met mothers and mothers. I mean they are absolutely Determined for the girls to go to school and I asked them why They said to me because no one gave us the chance if you have had the chance to go to school We won't become mother at the age of 15 and we don't want that for our daughters and Luckily for me once I met two fathers that came in and they were the most skeptical people in the room They're looking at me like this. I'm like well I'm coming to you And then after a while I went to them and said who are you? That you know me. I don't know you and The first father said I'm the father of that girl there I said the one that smile all the time and then he say yes My child I've never seen my child smile and laugh like that since she's she starts cool And I thought that she was going to school to take some drug. That's why she was so positive when she come back home But she was just happy to be in school And I want to thank you for bringing the smile in the face of my child and now seeing you and how you Treat my kids. I believe in education I can assure you that I would do the best for over girls to come and the second one said to me I have lens. I want to donate to baton guy name. We can make a dormitory. I say I'm not into termitary business I don't know how to handle that if you really really really want to do that I can find people that do does that and and team up with them and they would about you guys have to take care of That I mean dormitory is easy to build who's taking care of the security of the kids who's taking care of Cleaning up and cooking for them. I don't have that means what they mean. I have right now. It's barely enough for the program Angelic Africa is a Continent with more than 50 countries and hundreds of languages and many religions and people of many colors But you really are a hero to all of us who think of ourselves as Africans And all of us are we are all Africans. Thank you so much for we are all Africans. Thank you so much Thank you I would like this to go on for another hour and a half, but unfortunately we are limited by our time Thank you for those of you out there who have joined us for this and of course this will remain on the web So you can watch it back for those of you who had the privilege of being here This is a memento of being able to to share this with you I've interviewed many thousands of people in my life, but rarely have I felt like I've been interviewing a friend so quickly Thank you so much