CNN
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5-time Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo has been introduced as one in all three 2023 Polar Music Prize recipients, placing the Benin-born singer-songwriter in uncommon firm.
Based in 1989 by ABBA supervisor Stig “Stikkan” Anderson, the Sweden-based Polar Music Prize has been awarded since 1992 and is taken into account to be among the many most prestigious honors within the music business. Previous winners embrace Paul McCartney (1992), Elton John (1995), Stevie Marvel (1999), Björk (2010), and Sting (2017).
“Having a wonderful voice is one factor,” Kidjo informed CNN’s African Voices in a 2018 interview. “You all the time have to consider what you wish to do with that voice.”
She is going to be part of solely two earlier recipients from the African continent: South Africa’s Miriam Makeba in 2002, and Senegal’s Youssou N’Dour in 2013. Honored alongside Kidjo this yr can be Chris Blackwell, founding father of Island Information within the UK, and Arvo Pärt of Estonia, the world’s most carried out dwelling composer, in line with a Polar Music Prize press launch.
“To be awarded the Polar Music Prize is humbling,” Kidjo says within the launch. “I’ve no phrases to say how essential that is for me. It comes with a way of duty that’s bestowed upon me as an artist to proceed to do nice work. I’ll do my greatest to be a proud recipient of the Prize by way of my work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, on behalf of the youngsters, and as an envoy of music, to assist create a world wherein we will all dwell in peace.”
The ceremony will happen on Could 23 in Stockholm.