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Few hours after the historic burial of Ivorian Music Icon, DJ Arafat, his fans, who called themselves, ‘Les Chinoise’, translated as The Chinese, stormed the cemetery, dug his grave and removed his corpse to confirm the body is that of DJ Arafat.
The group of fans, mainly dominated by young Chinese and Ivorian removed his mortal remains and took pictures of it, before being dispersed by the forces of law and order.
Earlier on this Saturday, tens of thousands of fans of Ivorian “coupe-decale” singer gave him a spectacular send-off at the country’s main stadium
The overnight funeral concert at the 35,000-capacity Felix Houphouet-Boigny stadium in Abidjan began Friday evening and ended early today when Arafat’s body was brought for a final farewell.
Placed in the centre of the football pitch, it drew wild applause. Then the mood turned sombre with fans bursting into tears.
Throughout the night, top African stars such as Davido, Sidiki Diabate, Fally Ipupa and Serge Beynaud sang for the music sensation, who died aged 33 on August 12, 2019 after a motorbike crash in Ivory Coast’s main city Abidjan.
Ivorian Culture Minister Maurice Bandaman also present, conferred on him the national order of cultural merit.
DJ Arafat, whose given name was Ange Didier Houon, was one of the most popular African musicians in the Francophone world, and had been referred to as the “king” of coupe-decale (cut and run), an Ivorian form of dance music.
He left behind his five children who were also present at the concert.
Mimi Mefo Info
