Recently in Benin Category

Angélique Kidjo uses her fame as a musician as a platform for advocacy. Her albums sparkle with guest appearances from big western names: Carlos Santana, Peter Gabriel, John Legend, Ziggy Marley. She performed at one of Barack Obama's inaugural balls. Twice she has performed at Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies. She is one of the few musicians of pan-African stature, and a tireless social activist.
But she was victimized by the regime of Mathieu Kérékou, president of her native Benin. In 1983 she moved to France to escape the military. "I refused to write any song to praise the party in place, the communist ideology. They barred from the radio any other music than that. When you woke up in the morning, the first thing you heard was 'Viva la révolution; la lutte continue.' They used the music of the Beninese artists that couldn't get away. Music from Cameroon, from all the other countries in Africa, was not allowed."
Read David Honigmann's profile at Ft.com