The drummer for popular Ivory Coast music group Magic System has drowned in an accident at a seaside resort in the country, the band announced on Tuesday.
A family member said Didier Bonaventure Deigna died “trying to save a person from drowning”.
Magic System said in a statement it “announces with regret and deep sorrow the death of its drummer and conductor Didier Bonaventure Deigna, known as Pepito, last Sunday May 1 by drowning in Jacqueville,” in southern Ivory Coast, aged 46.
The beaches in Ivory Coast are reputed to be dangerous and drownings are frequent.
The four-member Magic System perform dance-oriented Zouglou music popular in French-speaking West Africa and in France.
The announcement comes just over a week after the Democratic Republic of Congo’s rumba king Papa Wemba collapsed on stage and died at the FEMUA music festival in Ivory Coast.
The festival was organised by Magic System.
