The West is a hyena feeding on Africa's misery - Angelique Kidjo

Benin Republic-born Grammy award winning singer, Angelique Kidjo has slammed the western media's depiction of Africa, labelling it as biased and myopic.

In a chat with Talk to Al Jazeera with Barnaby Phillips on Saturday, November 29, 2014, the iconic singer and song writer cited the reports circulated in the Western media about Africa, particularly since the Ebola outbreak began and described them as totally inaccurate.

“Do you think everybody in Africa has Ebola?' she asked, adding that: 'That's the image you give to people. 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?”

Kidjo also expressed her frustration with the way Western media portrays Africa as a continent steeped in violence, victimhood and corruption.

“A success story in Africa doesn't interest any media. They are so eager and hungry for horrible stories from Africa. Why?” she asked.

“It looks like the West is the hyena, feeding on the misery of the African people. They should be ashamed doing this.”

Now in her 50s, Kidjo has just written her life story, Spirit Rising and released a new album titled Eve. And even at her age, she is still recording and touring the world.