AFP - A woman fell into a trance and collapsed onto the coffin as the burial of a Haitian hip-hop star was greeted with hysterical singing from his adoring entourage.

Evenson Francis, known to fans on the streets of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince as "Shacan Lord", never escaped his recording studio when Tuesday's earthquake hit, robbing Haiti of a bright young star.

Along with his group "Gasoline Clan", the 31-year-old performer was regarded as a "pioneer of Haitian hip-hop," explained his producer Roosevelt Francois.

In an astonishing act of homage given the sheer scale of the destruction in Haiti, his entourage held an extraordinary ceremony in Delmas Stadium where the hip-hop artist had enjoyed performing.

"We built him a coffin with planks of wood," said Francois.

A song in French by his group and other close friends kicked off the Saturday night ceremony: "This is only a last goodbye that we are singing to you."

Six men from his group then brought out the make-shift coffin, covered in flies, from a white van.

His little sister Gina fell into a trance and draped herself over the coffin before being consoled by friends.

The body was lain at the bottom of the hole before the 30 or so people in attendance used spades, machetes or their bare hands to fill the vault with earth.

The remaining members of "Gasoline Clan" then sang a final, particularly poignant rap, before Francis's father broke down in tears as he prayed that Shacan Lord would "rise to heaven."

Two pieces of iron bound by fabric into an improvised cross marked the simple grave along with a piece of cardboard that read: "Here lies Evenson Francis."

"We couldn't bury him like the others," said Francois, referring to the mass graves where tens of thousands of dead Haitians have ended up in the wake of Tuesday's tragedy. "We wanted to do something special for him."