Tributes have been paid to Willy Mignon, an era-defining Beninese musician who died at the age of 39.

The artist passed away hours after having a seizure, his sister Christel told the BBC, adding that she was not clear on the exact cause of death.

Mignon’s career took off in 2006 with Minédji, a hit song that remains beloved in Benin almost 20 years later.

The West African country’s ministry of culture remembered Mignon as “an emblematic figure of the first generation of urban artists of the 2000s.”