foreign

I have a theory that Africans have this

hotline to Joy oh yeah we greet each

other we welcome each other absolutely

there's there's within us as a continent

there is great joy absolutely it's a

state of mind for us it's either laugh

or die we don't have the choice

and

that's where the Proverbs come from

that's where all those mimics sometimes

can be an insult or going get out of

here you're making a full of yourself

our body we have signs and we look at

each other and the situation it might be

a dire situation and then we start

laughing and go somebody have make a

huge mistake and you are in a date you

can even get yourself out and we laugh

and we help you at the same time that's

why I say it's a state of mind

I have seen people watch you perform and

they're in the audience they are

mesmerized they are smiling they are

joyful

do you have an awareness of what you are

doing to your audience

no I don't have any awareness because

for me every concert is a start over

I never take any public for granted

because you're never gonna you never

know what's the concert gonna be you can

have plan in your head you can have your

set list and everything

is just to help you it's just like um a

parameter that you put in there to be

able to perform but what happened after

that is out of your hands that's the

power of music when you when I'm holding

my microphone for me stage is My

Sanctuary

I was looking up some of the comments

people write when they watch it online

on YouTube now normally I wouldn't do

this but but this is fine this is not

scary Pure Love For Mama Angelique a

beautiful ball of energy

[Laughter]

you know what you're doing

well being on stage for me

is the most important thing I hate to be

in the studio

but I have to learn throughout the years

that I need to be in the studio to be

able to

perform to be on stage

and that energy that we're talking about

the public gave it to me I can't keep it

if I keep it I will explode I mean just

face it and I can't sleep like when I

finish a concert it take me like four

hours for me to dwindle down and to be

able to sleep is terrible and because

I'm wired up I don't need no drugs I

don't drink coffee I don't drink alcohol

I don't take anything I don't need it

the music is my drug so therefore when

I'm on stage

I'm just trying to convey the happiness

the joy

and the strength that we have as human

being

to Prevail in every circumstances

because music have shown me

when I'm facing the public

I see people from around the world

all different skin tones

and probably all people that speak

different languages

that make you humble and you've gone so

beyond what would be expected of someday

with your profile as a musician you are

not just a musician you're not just an

artist you are also an educator

education is everything

and

when I started this journey with my

Foundation by Tonga

one thing I have in mind is what my

father always used to say

an educated person

is a peacemaker

and it's true

because when you are educating and

understand the connectivity everything

in the world we live in is connected

even us

and if there's one thing we learned from

during the pandemic is that we cannot

live alone

lock down or not it becomes a point

where we need others to be able to

celebrate our own Humanity

from the moment I started going to

school it triggers something in me not

only the Curiosity but I was thirsty of

learning what can I learn every day and

I'll come home and ask questions and I'm

lucky enough to have

10 brothers and sisters that come before

some of them have been there so if I ask

questions somebody always gonna answer

me

and then

I get to high school

and I start seeing a different side of

Education

because when I finished Primary School

most of my girlfriend we made plan

when you get to high school we're gonna

do this we're gonna do that some of them

disappear from the radar

and I will ask the question asking the

question why aren't they here

then my girlfriend in the same street

where I grew up I was right across my

house

and I'm like Dad what is going on and

then he went and found out that he

should get married and I was it was a

day that I'm like is it worth living if

at that age you're gonna marry somebody

without me knowing what's going on

so to start my Foundation secondary

school is to allow those young girls to

buy time

to have a future to decide the future

they want to have instead of being

married young and end up dying on on a

delivering bed

so for me education not only

allow us to understand the complexity of

this world

it also Unleash the Power

that we have to understand when we stand

in front of Injustice

our rights what is right and what is

wrong
and when it comes to women

especially in the continent of Africa

I've started realizing that the vision

of my father

for women is totally different from the

vision of the father of my friends

because when I got to their home

I couldn't speak because it was not

allowed you have to be given permission

to speak one in my house you have

something in your mind go right ahead

somebody gonna answer you

and I start seeing the differences and I

said how we can how can we break

this cycle of

always women have to be the one they get

quiet and may speak up when even when

they're saying nonsenses

the patonga foundation it creates

opportunities for women and girls it

creates a future for them it sounds easy

though you have to say that creates

opportunities women and girls easy but

it's not it is

can you give us an example of

your advocacy work that has been

difficult

but you've worked for it and you've seen

success and happiness the other side

the hardest thing

when I started was not being able to

get the car to speak

it was breaking my heart

what is your name there's no answer they

look at you like

and I'm like why

why tell me what you need I'm here to

help I'm not going to tell you what to

do

from the day

they realize

and have confidence

that I'm not here to judge the choices

some of them were already mothers

and you have a lot of Pride when you're

talking to

on the privileged people

because I decided from the get-go

to work to dirt road where no one wants

to go

because that's where you have fewer

opportunities and I was not gonna let

those girls be marginalized and left in

in in the limbo

so from the moment they start speaking

to me

is the moment I start seeing how we can

move forward together

so we start
doing as an organization we needed a

data right

because I've done it 10 years to sending

people to high school they end up in

University all that kind of stuff

but I wanted to understand why

and the reason of the Dropout of the

girls

so through that we find out many

different reasons

one of the reasons of the Dropout is

that in Primary School the teacher were

not good enough

so they didn't have the tool to succeed

in Secondary School

and there's so much simulation you can

go through when you you appear to be a

stupid person and you're not stupid you

just don't have the tools then you drop

out

pregnancy of course and family poverty

and one thing that come out of that data

collection is

all of the girls say we need a safe

space

we need a place where we can talk to one

another

and we can work together and support one

another as it is done
so we start creating the girl club and

build an a curriculum based on their

needs

and they asked to be taught how to

prevent rape

how can they run away

how can they do things so we come up

with

a simple thing

don't go out when it's getting dark

when you're walking and you have a a

shadow behind you and you feel

uncomfortable don't start don't try to

be courageous don't try to be daring run

away and we prepared The Village if a

girl comes to the house

keep her there until the family member

can come because there's a danger in the

street so we start the whole thing like

that what is going on today

that I'm really proud of

is that those young girls

are becoming entrepreneur in creating

jobs

they are in total control of what they

do with their money

they decided they're gonna save money

it's not me

for the children not to go through this

again
what they want is to break the cycle of

poverty The Next Step that I'm taking is

to go to the northern part of my country

Benin

the girls in Benin are eight years old

Ascend to the man they're gonna marry

them home they become

made until they have the period then and

I want to break that cycle I've been

working hard I've been asking for help

for this for so long

we're gonna start there with local

organizations we don't bring anybody

from outside we work with the people

that knows the needs we work with the

village the the head of the villages the

mothers we want people to see for

themselves the progress we are making

and for them allow them to listen to the

kids that way they never do

what is the difference between the

pleasure you get from changing

a generation's life

to the pleasure of being on stage at a

major event performing and the crowd is

going wild what's the difference between

that kind of joy

there are two totally different Joy

the joy of seeing these girls

being articulate today

talking truth to power to the head of

villages telling them no one is touching

us anymore no one have the right to

touch my boob no and they are adamant

I mean the joy I take in that is that

finally

you can speak up with no danger with no

fear

I mean empowering people to that point

make me more humble I don't even know

sometimes I'm like where's the hole and

I can drive in and disappear and let

them be

but they won't let me go they say we

want you to come and see us and then we

still learn from you but I learned more

from those girls than I can ever learn

from anybody

the joy of being in on stage is

different is planting seeds worldwide

for people to see what the capacity what

they are capable of how many time after

concert people will come to me and say

Angelique how can we help

and I'm like how can you help

come on

your neighbors start looking at them

you can volunteer your time for

homeworks there's so much you can do in

your own country don't think that Africa

is just the country where we need help

we don't need help we need collaboration

did you warm up your voice today yes it

did

what do you sing to yourself

to cheer yourself up what are you saying

and I like that was better than Prozac

foreign

foreign

[Applause]

[Laughter]

so glad you warmed up

when you see your Grammys

lined up

and they're all shiny and extraordinary

I'm not even going to name how many

because every time I do you get more and

then this

chat will date so the many multiple

Grammys that you have won when you look

at them do you

does it feel good it feels good and at

the same time as I said uh before it is

a responsibility

I mean

my work I've been nominated first time

at the grammy it was in 1993-94.

and the first Grammy I won was 2007.

and I said to people

don't take Grammy for granted it's not

about how many likes you have is what

you have to say

what you are bringing to the table

how you are impacting the world in how

you are changing the music business it

is as it is

and

for me

that responsibility is always at the

core of everything I do

when I'm I'm setting myself to write new

songs I don't think about Grammys all I

think about

how would this song would help people

what impact it gonna have

I know you plan I know you have ideas

about what you want to do next for many

artists it would be you know how do you

want to spend your Sunset years but you

have extraordinary longevity in your

family so you have another half a

lifetime students

we are going to be going to a 100 year

old Angelique

and you're still gonna be let's go yeah

I'll be right in their own yeah so it

feels kind of weird to talk about Legacy

but what do you want people who follow

your work admire your work

see joy in your work what do you want

them to take away

from it well what I want people to take

away from my work

is their own worth

people's worth

we have too many people that think that

they are worth nothing

and absurd me that hurt me

and

when you give birth to a child

when a human being is coming out of your

body

Everything Changes

priorities

what matters you learn to go to the core

of things

what I want people to remember is that

you can fall beneath the Earth

but you always can rise

it does not matter how hard it is get up

and live your life

you know it and that's how we roll

I love you me too since the first time I

met it was a love story