Angélique Kidjo | Dream Space

Angélique Kidjo’s Dream Space isn’t a space that you enter as such, but a mindset that you carry with you day to day. The five-times Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and activist delivers a beautiful metaphor to live by in this joyous exchange with host Gemma Cairney.

Riffing on the oral traditions of Benin where she was born, for her Dream Space Angélique invites listeners to envision themselves as a tree – the roots our value systems, the trunk our self and the branches our choices. Reflecting on how nature works in cycles – how a tree loses its leaves annually in order to renew – Angélique contrasts this with our modern world where we’re so accustomed to getting everything we want immediately and running ourselves off our feet year-round.

The lifelong campaigner for women’s rights, healthcare and climate change imparts a wealth of wisdom throughout the conversation – from nature’s nurturing powers and not holding grudges to remembering humour and humility when times are tough (something she notes her friend and mentor Nelson Mandela did).

With seventeen albums under her belt that exude elation, it’s no surprise that in Angélique’s Dream Space she invites us to live in the spirit of joy.