Being a singer, involves marketing yourself, but being a woman, this is very tricky, I try to stick to our values and remain proud of myself as a Rwandan woman

It’s just that I love to sing. I love to bring Africa to the world. The beauty of Africa, not the music that people are very content about seeing and talking about.

You don’t do things because someone else has done it. You don’t work with people’s time, talent or passion. You try to carve a niche for yourself with your own time, talent and passion. Like I said earlier, I am into fashion or African fabrics. I also run a foundation which the Africulture is part of. It is what I love doing. I also cook a lot. If you have an event for instance and you need great delicacies of African touch and class of excellence, I am at your service. I can sing too but not to the point of going into music yet. Not for now at least. I am not thinking along that line

Looking at the new generation of African artists, many of them get trapped early on in styles that aren’t theirs, and that limits them. At this rate, I worry about the future of African music, and that in the future, there won’t be many singers who represent the African woman.

It’s true that my music is not always genre specific, but I always see it as Afro-centric. I will be releasing an album of my own songs later this year (2016) and I will be singing in my local languages of Sissala and Wale as well as English. Some of the songs will sound traditional and local to where I grew up, whilst others will be more mainstream influenced.

When you are an artist you are telling your story and other people stories…As a South African, when I had the platform to sing, I took it as a platform to tell my story, to inspire those who were fighting for equal right and freedom.

I can do any kind or style of music I want...Reggae, Ragga, Ballad, African, Afro pop, even Pure pop. As an African, I still have my African thing and I don’t want to lose that because I just believe from day one that would make me stand out quick and I can never let that go.

One of the reasons I didn't ever pursue a career - in the music world if you're black or mixed, you need to be able to belt a song or else you're not a singer, you know?

A professional entertainer who allows himself to become known as a singer of folk songs is bound to have trouble with his conscience—provided, of course, that he possesses one. As a performing artist, he will pride himself on timing and other techniques designed to keep the audience in his control [...] his respect for genuine folklore reminds him that these changes, and these techniques, may give the audience a false picture of folk music.

I did all my real growing up in France, which I was almost not allowed to do at home. They liked my voice, they found me sexy, they didn't know anything about my childhood. In England, you’d come on to a bright cheerful song, do a bit of comedy, finish on a big ballad and wear a sparkly dress. That was about it. Suddenly I saw people like Aznavour and Piaf, songs coming from your heart, your soul, your guts, your sex, whatever, songs about everything, life and death, love and hate, wow! I realised you can use all of you when you perform.

In most cases, our singing, like in the woman's league, we would take some of the songs sung in the villages, then we put in political words to suit the occasion... There wasn't any particular person at that time, that this was the one who composed those songs for us to sing. No, it was just general singing. Just as we are here. You could start a song, and our songs in most cases, our African songs, they are traditional. They are not difficult to sing. We could easily pick it up, and then we would all sing

I like wearing clothes which fuse elements of different cultures. I'm not just "Africa" today, you see, I'm a world melting-pot! It takes me an hour to get ready for each performance. I like to take the time to do my make-up and choose which materials I'm going to wear on stage. The way I see it, music's not just about sound, it's also about stories, paintings, perfumes and colours. You don't just listen to music - you breathe it, you taste it and you enjoy it visually! When I'm on stage I love constructing a décor for my songs which helps transport the audience into another world.

I want to become an international singer because I want to introduce our country's culture, our songs.

Looking at where I am at I say it is God's grace. What I know is that when I was growing up I saw myself on TV but I never thought that one day I’d be where I am on Friday. God has made it happen for me. Winning the two awards just proves that women are capable of presenting African traditional music shows. The statuettes encourage me to even work harder though many male maskandi fans still believe in a male presenter. What people do not know is that radio is my life and I grew up singing maskandi. I am Zulu woman who is proud of her culture that is why I enjoy presenting the show