Angélique Kidjo has released a new orchestral version of HOPE!! standout “Bando,” featuring Pharrell Williams and Quavo, alongside an official music video starring all three. Pharrell produced the track, which expands the original with Voices of Fire and a 50-member orchestra, and the visual was directed by legendary filmmaker Paul Hunter(Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize,” Mariah Carey’s “Honey,” Michael Jackson’s “You Rock My World”).
The video was filmed in La Grande Borne in Grigny, outside Paris, with residents from the community joining Angélique, Pharrell and Quavo throughout the shoot. It’s a joyful, celebratory visual centered around community, resilience and the idea at the heart of “Bando” that where you begin should never determine where you can go.
The orchestral arrangement was first unveiled earlier this summer as the finale of Louis Vuitton’s Spring-Summer 2027 Men’s Show in Paris, where Pharrell serves as Men’s Creative Director.
The release also comes on the heels of a huge few weeks for Angélique: she just made history as the first African musician and first Black African to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, before returning to New York to headline SummerStage in Central Park.
