It was a move that was as surprising as it was touching. But Beyonce Knowles, the star act at the First THISDAY Music Festival, which ended early this morning had mastered her craft and left the crowd enthralled. Following her introduction Saturday night, she had danced for a while then paused. “I am nervous. I don’t know how to begin this but I hope you people will help me by singing along,” she said as the crowd waited. The ecstatic members of the audience, most of who had anticipated that Beyonce was about to render one of her popular songs were dazed when she began, in her uniquely sonorous voice, to sing a familar tune: “Arise O Compatriots…”

As Beyonce sang the Nigerian national anthem in a way many had never heard before, emotions were high with some people in the audience moved to tears. With the presence of many eminent Nigerians including President of the Senate, Chief Ken Nnamani, Lagos and Delta State Governors, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Chief James Ibori respectively, not a few expressed surprise as to how she mastered the song.

According to a senator “there can be no better advertisement for the country than what this young lady has done. I have never heard anyone sing our anthem like this. I hope the Ministry of Information will exploit it to boost the image of Nigeria abroad, this is a class act.”Other eminent personalities who graced the first night like Senator Udo Udoma, Senator Adolphus Wabara, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Bayo Ojo, also expressed their delight. So did the Presidential Adviser on National Assembly, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa.