Royal African Funeral for the King of Pop
An African tribe in the Ivory Coast mourned the passing of Michael Jacksonon during an elaborate, two day long ceremony this past week. For them, Jackson wasn’t just a world famous singer. He was their royal prince.
Jackson toured their tiny village seventeen years ago, and according to the tribal leaders, the singer discovered that he was an heir to the tribe’s royal lineage. He was crowned a member of their royalty and adored by the entire village. The village ties to Jackson were so strong that following the singer’s untimely death, the tribal leaders requested that his body be transported there for a proper royal burial. From Telegraph:
The tribe held an extravagent royal funeral for Mr Jackson over two days. Traditional dancers and lookalikes of the dead singer paraded before King Amon N’Douff V and 2,000 people.
Tribal chiefs appealed to the US embassy to press Mr Jackson’s family to bring his body to the west African country for a burial in accordance with local tradition of the Sanwi kingdom.
The request was turned down.
Mr Jackson toured the village of Krindjabo in 1992, where chiefs reportedly revealed that DNA tests and mystic messages confirmed that the singer was descended from the royal Sanwi line.
He was declared a prince with the royal title of Prince Michael Jackson Amalaman Anoh.
“We asked for the body – it’s for us,” Emmanuel Kassy Kofi, organiser of the funeral on Saturday and Sunday, told the BBC.