Meshell Ndegeocello

This artist's CV lives up to the meaning of her surname ("free as a bird"). The list of her collaborations makes it seem as if Ndegeocello has been through popular music history: Arrested Development, Madonna, the Rolling Stones, Alanis Morissette, Herbie Hancock, Santana, Pat Metheny and Prince. She was long regarded as a sought-after musician's musician, but she has long since emancipated herself from this role. Today, the singer, rapper and bassist is extremely successful in the border area of singing/songwriting and jazz. So successful that the Grammy for "Best Alternative Jazz Album", which was awarded for the first time in 2024, seems to have been made for her.

Of course, she won it straight away. And when she says about the meaning of life: "You should try to get through without hurting yourself or others", this can certainly be understood as a statement about our festival motto "Healing".