Not once in the two-and-a-half-hour service did bride Flora Kamanga - in a polyester wedding dress hired for £1.50 - or her 32-year-old groom raise their gaze from the ground, nor even speak, in keeping with local tradition.

More than 600 people gathered for the ceremony, drawn by Yohane's celebrity as the father of 14-month-old baby David.

The Mail on Sunday had exclusive access to the colourful event, which took place on Thursday under the shade of a kachere tree in Lipunga village, 100 miles from the capital Lilongwe.

The groom wore a polyester double-breasted blue suit, borrowed from his brother-in-law, with his own yellow shirt, red tie and black tennis shoes.

Earlier the couple, their heads hidden under a piece of cloth, had been driven to the door of Mr Banda's tiny two-room mud hut from a neighbouring village in a car adorned with red flowers - accompanied by a huge crowd of well-wishers singing, dancing and ululating in their honour.

During the celebrations, the couple shared in a feast of tripe and tomatoes, cornmeal and boiled cabbage, washed down with 'thobwa' - a sweet beer made from germinated maize - as guests were entertained by Ngoni dancers in animal skins.

Mr Banda met his 22-year-old bride six months ago, as he cycled through her village on the way to the Home of Hope orphanage, where two-week-old David was left after his 25-year-old mother, Malita, died from childbirth complications.

Their first two sons had died young, aged just three and one. It is the second marriage for Flora, too, who divorced her first husband while she was pregnant with her daughter, Tiyamike, now 21 months old.

Well-wisher Joseph Chimimba, 31, said: "Yohane Banda is famous because of Madonna and I'm pleased for him. It's a wonderful thing for him to find another wife. We wish Madonna could have been here but maybe she will come another time."

The chief of Lipunga village, Henderson Geza, introduced the groom as the man who 'has shaken the whole world'. Mr Banda said he did not regret that David would not be a part of his new family.

"I still stand firm for the adoption,' he said. "I've made up my mind - David is for Madonna."

But he said he hoped Madonna and David would have a chance to meet his new wife one day.

Mr Banda said he was looking forward to returning to a normal life after the media storm. "It is now the rainy season and I just want to concentrate on my plants,' he said.

Mr Banda's mother, Asitineti Mwale, added: "David is Madonna's now. He is no part of us here. Because he has experienced a new life it would be very difficult for him to come back to such a hard life here."

Mr Banda said he loved Flora 'with all my heart' but admitted he had planned to marry another woman some time ago, 'but I found out she was already pregnant by another man so I decided I no longer wished to marry her.'