Five-Grammy Winner, Angélique Kidjo, has been listed among nominees for the 2024 African Genius Awards, scheduled to take place later in September.
The singer, songwriter, and actress, is part of 46 other personalities from the continent who have been shortlisted for the awards.
The venue for the ceremony is yet to be announced but organizers say it will be held for the first time outside South Africa.
Other nominees announced include popular YouTuber Wode Maya, Nigerian prosthetics artist John Amanam, Dr Yakama Manty Jones, Dr Charles Awuzie Ibrahim Parizco Dainkeh, and Siyamthanda Kolisi.
The African Genius Awards celebrates and recognizes outstanding achievements in science, technology, arts, and culture across the African continent. It was launched in 2021 by Priority Performance Projects.
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Eight Africans have won the awards since its establishment. They include Dr. Denis Mukwege, Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, Prof Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Professor Wole Soyinka, Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe (posthumous award), Aliko Mohammed Dangote, Bantu Stephen Biko (posthumous award) and Professor Ali Mazrui.
Early this week, Angélique Kidjo praised the Recording Academy, the world’s largest group of music professionals for extending support to creators in Africa and the Middle East.
“As a member of the Recording Academy, I’m thrilled that the Academy has established agreements with Ministers of Cultures and key stakeholders across the Middle East and Africa to extend the organization’s efforts to support music creators on a global scale,” she wrote on X (formally Twitter).
On Wednesday, June 12, Angélique Kidjo had a live performance with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in the United States, singing songs composed by top African acts.
“The thing that was important for me was to come and pay tribute to the music that has inspired my music from the 60s ( Miriam Makeba, Fela Kuti, and Youssou N’Dour) all the way down to today with the music of Burna Boy, Rema and all the young kids that grew up listening to my music. Music has informed me about the diversity of our shared humanity,” the Wombolombo hitmaker said in an interview ahead of the performance.
