Beyoncé pays tribute to Fela at Coachella music festival

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American megastar, Beyoncé, on Saturday paid tribute to late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, during her performance at the Coachella music festival.

The first ever black woman to headline the annual music festival held in Indio, California paid homage to Fela in one of her sets with the song ‘Zombie’.


She also covered songs by Jamaican musicians, Dawn Penn and Sister Nancy.

Beyoncé, who missed out last year’s performance because she was pregnant with twins, bought her husband Jay Z and fellow Destiny Child members, Kelly and Michelle, and danced with Solange.

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She thanked the Coachella festival for making her the first black woman headliner.

“Coachella, thank you for allowing me to be the first black woman to headline,” Beyoncé said, before singing ‘Run the World (Girls)’.

Her performance, which was streamed live on YouTube, was watched by about half a million people at home.

Music producer, The-Dream, revealed earlier this year that Beyoncé scrapped an entire album inspired by Fela.

“We did a whole Fela album that didn’t go up,” The-Dream wrote, in an entry for Beyoncé song ‘End of Time’ on lyric annotation site Genius.