The Grammy - winning singer talks about Ebola ,
terrorism and challenging negative media
perceptions about Africa.
Singer Angelique Kidjo is a symbol of Africa's
creativity , energy and beauty . Her music is a unique blend of her own very West African heritage
combined with funk, jazz and Latin music, and much more .
From the small country of Benin , she has won
awards and recognition around the world . But Kidjo
is also a champion of African causes .
Through her work with the United Nations and her
own foundation, she has travelled across the
continent , raising money at times of disaster . But
above all else, she has campaigned for the right of
more girls to go to school.
And with Africa facing new challenges - from Ebola to extremists opposed to girls' education - she is vocal in her criticism of Western depictions of the
continent .
" Do you think everybody in Africa has Ebola ?" she
asks on Talk to Al Jazeera. "We didn' t invent Ebola .
It 's just a disease that exists there. Like, are we
going to be blamed for inventing malaria too? If there is an Ebola outbreak in the Western world , will the
media in the West treat it the same way?"
She also expressed her frustration with the way
Western media portray Africa as a continent steeped in violence , victimhood and corruption.
" A success story in Africa doesn' t interest any
media, " she says. "They are so eager and hungry for horrible stories from Africa. Why? It looks like the West is the hyena , feeding on the misery of the
African people . They should be ashamed doing this ."
On the topic of terrorism , she is crushing in her
criticism of ISIL but urges an analysis of why young people are joining the group.
" Everybody wants to fight ISIS. Why can ' t we just do something better for people and remove the
legitimacy of all those crazy extremists that are
there just for the pleasure of killing people and for
power?" she asks .
Now in her mid - 50's , Kidjo has just written her life
story , Spirit Rising, and released a new album, Eve .
She is still recording and touring at a hectic pace , but where does she see her musical career going from here? And with all the challenges facing Africa, does she feel optimistic about the future of her beloved continent ?
Angelique Kidjo talks to Al Jazeera.

I was looking for a christmas song, so I searched google. I quickly clicked on 'do they know its christmas' after listening to the lyrics, I felt like smashing my phone against the wall. The song was actually talking about Africa. Most of them have never been to Africa, they, they all wait for the lies from cnn... So annoying!