Thousands of fans Friday gathered in Ivory Coast’s capital Abidjan to pay tribute to musician DJ Arafat.
The 33 year old Ivorian, whose real name was Ange Didier Huon, died in a motorcycle accident earlier this month.
Hundreds of Ivorian artists took part in a stadium concert, with President Alassane Ouattara among its attendees.
Huon’s coffin was later brought to the stadium and then carried away to a local cemetery for burial.
The concert was organised after a successful online petition which called on the government to allow the use of Félix Houphouët Boigny stadium, which seats 35,000 people.
The government also pledged $250,000 towards the event and said it would pay for Huon’s funeral ceremony.
DJ Arafat was one of the most popular African musicians in the Francophone world, and had been referred to as the “king” of coupé-décalé (cut and run), an Ivorian form of dance music.
The musical genre was born in the early 2000s during Ivory Coast’s civil war and emphasised that young people still wanted to have fun despite the conflict.
He released 11 albums over his 15-year career, and was named best artist of the year at the Coupé-Decalé Awards in 2016 and 2017.
