Post your questions for Angélique Kidjo at Glastonbury
For our return to Glastonbury festival – after far too long away thanks to the pandemic – the Guardian is taking over a whole stage each morning for a series of conversation events with three of our favourite artists, and we want to ask them your questions.
Taking place at William’s Green from 10.20-11am, on Friday I’ll be speaking to Sleaford Mods (both of them, that is), and on Saturday, Alexis Petridis speaks to Self Esteem.
Closing out the talk series on Sunday is Angélique Kidjo, speaking to Kate Hutchinson. Kidjo is appearing twice at the festival, playing a solo set on Sunday from 8pm on the West Holts stage, and another set with her supergroup Les Amazones D’Afrique, opening the Pyramid stage at noon on Saturday.
Hailing from Benin, Kidjo, 61, has one of the most enduring international careers of any west African musician, stretching back to her teens in the late 70s. Her breakthrough came after moving to Paris and signing to Island Records, scoring a hit with her 1991 album Logozo. Her next record was made at Prince’s Paisley Park studio complex, and more and more global collaborators came into her orbit: Carlos Santana, Gilberto Gil, Alicia Keys and Peter Gabriel among them. Her covers of Talking Heads songs are live favourites, and after 18 albums, she is Africa’s joint most-celebrated artist at the Grammys, with five wins.
She is always such a forthright and uplifting person to speak to, telling the Guardian last year: “Music for me is like a language; it’s such a powerful, transformative thing and we share it and add to it. I’ve never let any boundary stop me from being creative and taking music further.”
Ahead of her appearance, post your questions for Kidjo below, and if you’re going to Glastonbury, please join us for the conversation in person. If you’re not, we’ll be publishing a full account of the conversation the following week.