'Congo rumba king' dies after stage collapse

Papa Wemba, one of Africa's greatest music stars, died on Sunday after collapsing on stage during a festival in Cote d'Ivoire.

The Congolese world music legend, renowned as the "king of Congolese rumba" for the fusion of Cuban and electronic rock that he pioneered in the 1970s, was 66.

He died after falling ill during a set at the Urban Musical Festival Anoumabo in Abidjan, the first major cultural event in the country since a jihadist attack on a beach resort last month.

Video footage broadcast live on television showed the dramatic moment that Papa Wemba - wearing a bold black and white patterned tunic and oversized bowler hat - slumped to the floor behind a group of dancers, before performers rushed to his aid.

Festival organizers expressed "deep sorrow" at the death of a man who has been at the forefront of African music for more than four decades.

"Papa Wemba wanted to die on stage, that's what he told me two weeks ago when I spoke to him on the phone," said festival promoter and singer Salif Traore, known as A'Salfo.

A'Salfo, lead singer with the Ivorian group Magic System, said he understood Papa Wemba died on the way to hospital and that a journalist who interviewed him earlier in the day had noticed that he appeared unwell.

The journalist "told me that Papa Wemba was showing signs of fatigue. He was drinking water between every sentence", he said.

The festival was held just over a month after the Islamist attack on the beach resort of Grand-Bassam on March 13 that left 19 people dead.

Papa Wemba was born Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba in June 1949 in what was then Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He won international acclaim when the fashion for African and world music took hold in Europe and the United States in the 1980s, and recorded with British rock star Peter Gabriel.

"He was an icon, an artist of talent. ... It's a great loss for music," said DR Congo Culture Minister Banza Mukalay.