The President, who is in his last year in office, was recently moved to tears as he watched Aretha Franklin give a powerful performance of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" at the annual Kennedy Centre Honours ceremony in Washington DC.
Fang's visit to Washington was heralded with a rare full military honours ceremony on the Pentagon's parade field, complete with a US navy band, formations of troops from all of the services and a 19-gun salute.
(By contrast, Anna Wintour certainly did not livetweet her own Legion of Honour ceremony. Anna Wintour does not even use Twitter).
In a statement to NBC, which broke the story last week, the Pentagon said the "arrival ceremonies" would henceforth be known as "honour ceremonies" to avoid confusion.
Kidjo and her fellow awardees will be honoured at a ceremony in Dakar, Senegal, on May 28.
Meanwhile, a different type of awards ceremony honoured stars such as Michelle Williams, Charlize Theron and Brad Pitt at the weekend.
Others involved in the rescue were also honoured in a ceremony at City Hall.
Chosen by a group of around 600 industry voters, the six acts will be honoured at a ceremony in April.
6. Falling asleep at St Paul's Miliband beside Cameron and Clegg at St Paul's (Getty) On Friday, a sombre ceremony honoured British soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
The same ceremony honoured the memory of photographers Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, who were killed in Misratah, Libya, on April 20 while covering the Libya Revolt of 2011.
Others to be honoured during the ceremony include Christian Horner, the team principal of the Red Bull Formula One team, who received an OBE for his services to the motorsport.
