Musicians worldwide were celebrated during the 64th Grammy Awards hosted by South African comedian Trevor Noah in Las Vegas on Sunday. Benin’s Angelique Kidjo and South Africa’s DJ Black Coffee won Grammys for their respective albums. Ukraine’s President Zelensky made a surprise video appearance appealing for support.
South African artist DJ Black Coffee won his first Grammy Award in the best dance/electronic album category with his album Subconsciously. It is the first time South Africa has bagged a Grammy for this category.
The 12-track album released in February 2021 included features with Diplo, Pharrel Williams, Usher, Sabrina Claudio, Maxine Ashley and Msaki.
Black Coffee, real name Nkosinathi Innocent Sizwe Maphumulo, was born in Durban in Kwazulu-Natal province. He said, in a post-win interview, that he hopes his win inspires children in Africa.
“The African kids who are watching, who come from where I come from, who may think they don’t stand a chance to get on a global stage like this, I wanted to just say to them it’s possible!
“The award is not for me, but to show them that it’s not about music alone, but this is about anything they may want to do. This Grammy is a symbol of that, it’s really, really possible to get here,” said Black Coffee.
Speaking to RFI’s Romain Chanson, the 46-year-old music producer said that he was inspired by the Chicago house scene.
“Over the years, through the journey of kwaito, a lot more [South African] DJs started to take that [Chicago] influence and bring it home.
“South Africa has got elements of proudly South African house music. We’ve got South African deep house music, we’ve got Gqom, and now Amapiano which is taking over the world,” he said.
Maphumulo added that house music is to South Africa “what hip hop is to the United States or pop to Scandinavia”.
“We’re probably the only country in the world where house music is like pop music, where it is playing 24 hours on the radio and on prime time.”
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa congratulated Black Coffee for “flying the flag and inspiring a new generation of talent to take over the world”.
Kidjo wins
Benin’s star, Angelique Kidjo, bagged her fifth Grammy on Sunday in Las Vegas for best global music album with Mother Nature.
The 13-track album was released in June 2021 and features a plethora of artists including Burna Boy, Salif Keita and Yemi Alade.
The 62-year-old artist thanked the Recording Academy for its “openness”.
“It’s the only award in the world that welcomes the world as a whole. It’s an example for all the other awards that do not understand that the music does not stop on their doorsteps, that there are people around the world that are contributing to our musical family a great deal and in a great manner and that we have to invite on board,” Kidjo said in post-win interview.
She added that each album she creates comes from “blood, tears and heart”.
With Mother Nature, Kidjo said she wanted the youth of Africa express their views on the world we live in, the wars we endure, the climate change affecting our lives.
“We need to create an environment where the youth speak to us. We might not like it, they might disrespect us but we need to speak to them.
Otherwise, we won’t create a better society and that’s what this album is about: to give them a platform to speak up for themselves,” Kidjo said.
She is currently touring the United States, until 12 May and will perform in New-York on 25 and 26 April at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Zelensky surprise
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise video appearance at the Grammy Awards celebration in Las Vegas and appealed to viewers to support his country “in any way you can”.
“What is more opposite to music? The silence of ruined cities and killed people,” said Zelensky
