Go-getters in the ghettos: The bright side of France's migrant suburbs

Like many French rap stars, Mokobe has drawn inspiration from growing up in one of the bleak "banlieues" (suburbs) where immigrants make up a large part of the population.

One of 15 children of West African parents, he remembers bunk beds gradually filling up the bedroom until the window could no longer be opened. New arrivals then had to sleep in the living room of their flat on the south-eastern fringes of Paris.

The banlieues make the news during riots, as in 2005, but there is another side to them

"We used to tell each other stories at night," the 40-year-old recalls. "I've always liked living in a housing estate because we're on top of each other. Mixing and sharing are part of life there."

Mokobe, who has filled venues from Chad to California over a two-decade career, believes his banlieue roots have given him an edge as a performer.

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This picture belies the image of the ethnic hinterland of French cities as ghettos. The country often stands accused of failing to integrate migrants, leaving them to fester in crime-ridden poverty.

Up from the banlieue

Marginalisation is often blamed for regular waves of rioting and for the rise of home-grown jihadists, such as those who struck Paris last year and Nice in July.

After the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January 2015, the French prime minister denounced "geographic, social and ethnic apartheid".

But, wretched as they undoubtedly are, the banlieues are in reality hotbeds of upward mobility.