Legendary Beninese icon Angélique Kidjo delivered a spirited performance at the Grace for the World concert in the Vatican City — a landmark free concert uniting global leaders, artists, and voices to support humanitarian causes.
Recorded live from Vatican City on Saturday (September 13th), and produced by Pharrell Williams and Andrea Bocelli, the Grace for the World concert was the first held in St. Peter’s Square, and drew an audience of over 253,000 people.
Well known for exploring the links between sounds from West Africa and the rest of the world, Kidjo performed a rendition of “La Vida Es Un Carnaval,” lifted from her 2019 Grammy-award winning album Celia — a tribute to celebrated Afro-Cuban singer-songwriter Celia Cruz, who became known as the “Queen of Salsa” music.
Alongside Kidjo, the full lineup of performers included Pharrell and the Voices of Fire Choir, Andrea Bocelli, John Legend, Karol G, Clipse, BamBam, Ariana Gergamaschi, Il Volo, Teddy Swims, Jelly Roll and the Choir of the Dioscese of Rome, led by Marco Frisina.
The programme also featured inspiring words from Bishop Ezekiel Williams, Graça Machel Mandela, Naomi Campbell, Nobel laureates Kailash Satyarthi and Nadia Murad, Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro, and Pharrell.
Photo by Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images for Grace For The World.
“In this historic moment, I ask you to choose grace,” Pharrell said in his remarks. “Choose curiosity. Choose them until they become contagious. Together, we will flood the world with light and love.”
This performance celebrated the 2025 Jubilee year and marked the closing of the third World Meeting on Human Fraternity, a conference held by the Fratelli Tutti Foundation consisting of two days of spiritual and cultural initiatives, to celebrate the strength of fraternity, offer the world a symbolic embrace, and renew the collective commitment to the protection of creation.
A replay of the concert is available to stream around the world on Disney+.
