Takoma Park MD
4-04-2026 11:48pm

The Queen Keeps Showing Up: Angélique Kidjo Brings Her Joy to Strathmore

NORTH BETHESDA, Md. – Some artists you have to chase. Angélique Kidjo? She just keeps showing up.

As a DJ, I run into her all the time. Even when I least expect it, there she is — on a remix track, a club banger with a young and gifted rapper, a collaboration that stops you mid-scroll and makes you say, "Wait, is that her?"

Just the other day, I heard her new song with Ayra Starr. And as always, Kidjo brought that powerful voice — the one that's been shaking speakers for four decades — to flow with Ayra's afrobeats-fresh, melodic style. It shouldn't work across generations like that. But it does. Because Kidjo doesn't follow trends. She sets the table and invites the youngins to eat.

Two Queens, One Song

That track is called "Aye Kan (Are You Coming Back?)" — the first single from Kidjo's upcoming album HOPE!!, due April 24. It's a collaboration that feels less like a feature and more like a passing of the torch that neither woman is willing to drop.

There's something deeply poetic about this meeting. Ayra Starr grew up watching Kidjo win GRAMMYs on television. She's spoken about how seeing Kidjo — a fellow Beninese woman — take that stage in 2008 made her believe she could do the same thing. On "Aye Kan," that inspiration comes full circle. Their voices meet like an elder and a young gun sharing stories over Fanta. No competition. Just conversation.

"Aye Kan" leans into a polished Afrobeats palette while keeping the rhythmic intelligence and melodic layering that define Kidjo's work. The video, shot at Power Station in New York, shows them together in candlelight — intimate, warm, real.

  Capital FM Kenya, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 

And Kidjo? She's not slowing down. The new album HOPE!! also features Pharrell Williams, Davido, Nile Rodgers, and a stacked lineup of artists who know exactly who they're standing beside.

The Strathmore Show

This Thursday, April 9, at 8 p.m., Kidjo takes the stage at The Music Center at Strathmore (5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda). And if her past performances there are any indication, you'd better come ready to move.

When Kidjo hit Strathmore in past years, she didn't just perform — she took over. Percussionist Magatte Sow opened with a solo that rattled the rafters. Kidjo entered like a storm, launching into Talking Heads' "Crosseyed and Painless" without a warm-up. The woman has been called "Africa's premier diva" by Time magazine, but that title undersells the sheer physicality of her shows. She dances like James Brown, preaches like a revivalist, and makes you feel like you're in her living room.

One fan told the Washington Informer after a Strathmore show: "She was flawless, energetic and inclusive. She sang a song called 'Choose Love.' There was nothing but love for her in this audience".

A Life That Keeps Giving

Five GRAMMYs. A Polar Music Prize. A spot on Time's 100 Most Influential People list. Kidjo has collected accolades the way most of us collect parking tickets. But what makes her different — what keeps her showing up on random club tracks and unexpected collaborations — is her refusal to be boxed in.

She sings in Fon, French, Yoruba, English, and a language she invented herself when existing words weren't enough. She's a UNICEF goodwill ambassador. She runs the Batonga Foundation, which supports girls' education in Africa. And somewhere in between all of that, she finds time to remind us that music is supposed to feel good.

If You Go

Who: Angélique Kidjo

Where: The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD

When: Thursday, April 9, 2026, 8 p.m.

Tickets: Available through Strathmore's box office

Doors open at 8 p.m. The venue has a capacity of about 1,976, so don't sleep on this one.

#AngeliqueKidjo #StrathmoreLive #DMVConcerts #Afrobeats #HOPEAlbum #CulturalDMV

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