The 25-year-old Malian is a rising star on France’s music scene with titles like “Let’s Go to Bamako”, that might be nostalgic tunes celebrating Mali’s capital, but that sound more like Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera than the music of Modja’s compatriots Salif Keita and Rokia Traore.

“I’m what I call ‘rock ‘n’ love’”, she tells Reuters Africa Journal when asked how she herself would categorize her music. “It’s not rock ‘n’ roll because I don’t go silly drinking or taking drugs, but I’m really rock, so I’m ‘rock ‘n’ love’.” 

Inna Modja released her debut album, “Everyday is a new world” in France in October 2009 and her first video, “Mr. H”, shows all the hallmarks of a pop princess and has enjoyed a lot of play on French TV stations.

Born in Mali, she lived in Nigeria, Togo and the USA with her diplomat parents before making Paris her home when she was 18. “I like my life in Paris,” she says. “I love my friends, people close to me – my daily life is very important to me. But in Bamako I have my family – this big town full of energy. I love the market and I love to walk along the banks of the river Niger.”  Legendary world musician Salif Keita is one of her mentors.  Inna Modja sang back-up for his band, the “Bamako Rail Band” before she decided to go solo.

In spite of the close ties that she maintains to her home country, Modja’s music is definitely a departure from what we usually think of as World Music or “African sound”. But then, what is African sound? And should upcoming African musicians like Inna Modja embrace influences from all over the world; or should they be ambassadors of their own musical heritage?

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Every year, hundreds of people in the Central African Republic are convicted of witchcraft. One man, who received a 4-year sentence, says his case highlights some of the failures of the country’s judicial system.

Ange Mberkoulat was convicted of witchcraft after his village chief accused him of trying to kill a relative. He is officially a convict but is serving his sentence outside jail because of lack of resources in prisons

Ange says he was accused falsely. To make things worse arsonists allied to the chief burned down his house and beat up his wife. He and his family of 3 have since moved in with his sister-in-law.

The Central African Republic has endured several coups since independence in 1960 and fighting between rebels and government forces in the north has forced about 300,000 people from their homes. The political situation remains unstable despite disarmament programmes and a new national unity government in 2009.

Human rights activists say judicial corruption and abuse of prisoners are a problem. Witchcraft is a criminal offence here and is even punishable by execution in cases of homicide. The manner in which investigations are carried out is also often questionable.

State Prosecutor Kongo Parfait explains it like this: “Sometimes we directly consult a sorcerer who will put a product into the eyes of a person who has no relation to the victim and who can then determine where the fetishes of the accused have been hidden. Once the accused is found, he has to unearth the fetishes. Sometimes they will be found in the field or under the bed of the person and so on. In general, those are the indications.”

The catholic mission in Bozoum, about 300 km (200 miles) from the capital Bangui, often intervenes in witchcraft cases.