Keith Urban on travelling at the ‘Speed of Now’

Beyonce has broken the record for the most Grammy Award wins by a female artist after scooping her 28th prize.

Nigerian superstars Burna Boy and Wizkid shone brightly at yesterday's Grammy awards. With their wins, there is no doubt that the African kings are poised for world dominance. What do their Grammy wins mean for the Nigerian and indeed African music industry as a whole?

Another school has been targeted by kidnappers in Nigeria's northwest; three teachers were abducted in Kaduna state after gunmen raided a primary school. And Human Rights Watch is calling on the UN to do more to hold Cameroonian Anglophone separatists accountable for the ramped up attacks and abductions of civilians. And Burna Boy's star burns brighter than ever. The Nigerian rapper is ecstatic after taking home his first Grammy award. In accepting the trophy for Best Global Music Album, he has dedicated his win to Africans around the world.

Xenophobic attacks on Asian Americans have soared in recent months. Activists say it's a result of deep-rooted anti-Asian racism that's been exacerbated by rhetoric blaming China for the Covid-19 pandemic. With Asian Americans still coming to terms with the murder of six Asian women in Atlanta last week by a white gunman, we speak to Viet Thanh Nguyen, the celebrated Vietnamese American Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. "More and more of us are being quite vocal about demanding recognition and change," he told FRANCE 24.

Pone, former member of the famous French hip-hop collective Fonky Family, has been stricken with ALS and yet continues to make music thanks to software that follows the movement of his eyes. The eye-tracking system guides a computer mouse allowing him to compose, but also to write and speak via a voice generated by his computer. His four-track mini-album 'Listen and donate', is out now with the goal to raise funds for the Trakadom association.

With a violin bow fixed to her prosthetic arm, Manami Ito's short but breathtaking performance at the Tokyo Paralympics opening ceremony was the product of many years of determination.

This week, we chat to Australian jazz singer, pianist and composer Sarah McKenzie, who is currently touring France with a mini residency at the prestigious Duc des Lombards jazz club. She tells us more about the creative way in which she connected with musicians from around the world at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. We also meet young Parisian artist Yoa, whose bedroom pop-filled debut EP "Attente" has just been released.

Award-winning biowaste converters are helping farmers in Ivory Coast turn mountains of agricultural by-products into compost for their fields or gas for their cooking stoves.

Jon Batiste led nominations on Tuesday for the Grammy Awards with 11 nods, followed by Justin Bieber, Doja Cat, and H.E.R with eight apiece. Batiste and Bieber will compete for the top prize - album of the year - along with pop singer Billie Eilish, R&B artist Doja Cat, singer-songwriter H.E.R, rapper Kanye West, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, newcomer Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift and rapper Lil Nas X, organizers said. The Grammys, the highest honors in the music industry, will be handed out at ceremony in Los Angeles on Jan 31.

Dino Brandão is considered one of the most promising young stars on the Swiss music scene. The half-Swiss, half-Angolan musician recently released a debut EP under his own name. "Bouncy Castle" features five afro-folk tracks and is a multicultural melting pot of sunny and yet melancholic songs. Oscillating between tropical melodies and darker folk tunes, he honestly addresses physical ailments and mental issues. He speaks to FRANCE 24's Florence Villeminot about the importance of opening up.

Ukrainian writer-director Maryna Er Gorbach and film critic Lisa Nesselson join Eve Jackson in the studio to discuss a timely tale that's all too real about a pregnant woman refusing to leave her home on the Ukraine-Russia border when faced with war. Er Gorbach's award-winning feature "Klondike" shows the toll of war on ordinary people amid the Donbas conflict in 2014. She explains why she's part of a group of seven Ukrainian directors calling for a complete boycott of Russian artists.

From getting a nomination alongside Angelique Kidjo for the 2022 Grammys Award for Best Global Album to being the mixing/mastering brains behind countless Nigerian hit songs and albums, such as Kizz Daniel – Barnabas EP including Lie, Pour Me Water, etc, Buju’s Sorry I’m Late EP, Adekunle Gold ft Davido – High, Wizkid, Adekunle Gold, Omah Lay, DJ Tunez – Pami – amongst many amazing projects, Victor Kpoudosu, better known as VTEK became the standard for making great music and guaranteed hit songs both in Nigeria and outside the shores of Africa.