Veteran muso Angelique Kidjo admits the Grammys need “diversity”

Veteran African musician Angelique Kidjo has called for diversity on the part of the Grammy Awards, saying the awards need to have gender equality.

She said the music industry is dominated by men all over the globe and that diversity is really needed.

“The music industry is dominated by men, so we have to think about the whole infrastructure,” says the star, who is a trustee for the awards as she told BBC.

The ceremony has been criticised for sidelining hip-hop in particular and there is no rap album that has won album of the year since Outkast’s Speakerboxxx in 2004.

Among some of the world’s most successful musicians such as Drake and The Weeknd, they are currently boycotting the 65-year-old organisation, protesting that their music is relegated to genre categories like rap and R&B and, in some cases, not recognised at all.

“We are working on it,” Kidjo told the BBC. “We are working on it.”

Kidjo says the Recording Academy is trying to repair those relationships under the watch of CEO Harvey Mason, Jr.

He stepped in three years ago, saying Mason Jr “came in a moment [that was] very difficult and he is embracing this challenge head on.”

“He’s open for discussion, he’s open for proposals. People have to reach out to Harvey, and we have to start this conversation and help him get there,” she said.

Despite his guidance, the Grammys have made some questionable decisions in the last few years and there was talk when John Batiste beat Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, and Taylor Swift and the combined talents of Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga won album of the year in 2022; while this year’s ceremony saw Harry Styles pick up the same award over Beyoncé’s celebrated disco opus Renaissance.

“I think what is important for us to understand when it comes to Recording Academy is that we are musicians, we are producers and we have a different way, perhaps, of listening to music than the public,” says Kidjo.

“That’s what makes the Grammy Awards so important. We are honoured by our peers. So if all of us come together and decide that’s what it is, then that’s what it is.”

Main Image: Angelique Kidjo/CNN

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