I Am From Iseyin In Oyo State — Beninese Angelique Kidjo

Multiple Grammy Award winner, Angelique Kidjo has traced her roots to Iseyin, Oyo State, Nigeria.

Angelique Kidjo made this known while on a live-radio-interview programme on a private radio station in Lagos State.

According to her, going by what her mother told her, she hails from Iseyin, a town in Oyo State, Nigeria.

According to Wikipedia, the 61-year-old was born in Ouidah, Benin Republic. But she insists that she has a lot of relatives in Nigeria even though she doesn’t visit them often.

“My Mum told me that I am from Iseyin because when my grandfather’s great, great, great, great grandfather came back from Brazil, they found their roots in Iseyin.

“From my mother’s side, we have always been from Nigeria, so we have families in Abeokuta. Ibadan, Lagos, everywhere, I have cousins I haven’t seen in a million years that I miss a lot”, she added.

Angelique added that she has a busy schedule that keeps her away from her roots and family and that even her 29-year-old daughter, Naima, had to complain about it.

“I have a hectic life, my daughter just told me on the phone yesterday ‘okay, when are you coming back home, and I said not before November… and she said ‘don’t forget you have a daughter though,’” she said.

On her love for the continent of Africa, she revealed she is not just interested in singing about the beauty of the continent, but also, in showing the happiness the people of Africa radiate.

“It’s just that I love to sing. I love to bring Africa to the world. The beauty of Africa, not the music that people are very content about seeing and talking about. Africa is not about that because I grow up in a country that is poor but people were very happy”, she stated.

Angelique further stipulated that she wants the world to see how powerful African women are.

“The women of Africa are the backbone of this continent and they are beautiful. So, I want the world to see that”, she stated.

Angelique won her fourth Grammy Award on Sunday, April 3, 2022, for her Mother Nature Album, beating Nigerian singers Wizkid, Femi Kuti, Made Kuti; Ghana’s Rocky Dawuni and Daniel Ho & Friends, to secure the plaque for the Best Global Music Album award.