If there were ever just one ambassador for the whole of Africa, it would have to be Angelique Kidjo.
She cares passionately for the continent of her birth – it’s the richest on earth, she says, but corruption and the feelings of some younger people that they can only succeed by leaving, are damaging its chances of realising its greatness.
She knows what she’s talking about.
As a singer in Benin in West Africa, the advent of a communist government and its harsh restrictions on musical freedom, meant she fled to realise her own dreams of a music career.
Paris became her home in 1983, and she would go on to have an astonishing career.
No other African artist has won as many awards – her haul includes five Grammys and this year’s Polar Music Prize, dubbed the Nobel Prize for Music. This year she is celebrating four decades in music.
Her acclaim also reflects her success as an activist – she set up the Batonga Foundation to campaign for equal opportunities for young women and girls in Africa.
Education, she tells me, is the key. She was staggered to find that when she arrived in France from Benin, a one time French colony, the country’s colonial past was not covered in school lessons.
She believes that knowledge of this would go some way to tackling the inequalities faced by immigrants in the country and warns that the recent scenes of rioting in France are caused by issues that exist across Europe.
She is eloquent in her arguments, little wonder she is called on to speak or perform at many international events.
Her music, blending traditional west African sounds with contemporary music genres from around the world, is joyous and uplifting, but her lyrics reflect the issues that she cares deeply about – climate change, police brutality, rights for women – all are covered in her music.
She has faced criticism that her music is not African enough, which she dismisses, arguing that she knows her roots better than anyone, and if she chooses to make her sound modern, then that’s her choice.
It’s certainly worked. Angelique is credited with inspiring a new generation of African artists, people like Burna Boy, with whom she has collaborated. That’s all the credit she needs, she says.
Later this year, she will mark her 40th anniversary with a special concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Her’s is an extraordinary journey. And Angelique Kidjo is nowhere near done.
