Morrissey salutes Peru with Andean folk tune

British music icon Morrissey delighted an audience in Peru with a cover of Andean folk tune "El Condor Pasa" as he closed an extensive tour of Latin America.

The former Smiths frontman, whose biting commentary on the human condition has won him a global fan base, played before 5,000 fans in the Park of the Exposition in downtown Lima on Saturday night.

Early in the set, Morrissey performed "El Condor Pasa" ("The Condor Passes"), which was written in 1913 by the Peruvian composer Daniel Alomia Robles based on a traditional instrumental melody in Peru.

Morrissey's rendition came from Simon and Garfunkel's version, "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)", which includes lyrics in English and appeared on the duo's final album, 1970's "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

The song's inclusion could be taken by fans as a mark of reconciliation by the famously moody Morrissey, who in 2013 called off two shows in Lima amid a series of cancelations due to health concerns.

Morrissey's show on Saturday capped a 14-date tour of Latin America, where the singer has found an especially avid fan base.

In an online posting on Monday Morrissey described the tour as "our highest triumph" and ranked the Lima show at the top of his list.

"Thank you, South America! Your love is gratefully accepted and returned tenfold," he said.

Known for his strident defense of animal rights, Morrissey used the Lima show to campaign against bullfighting in Peru, where the bloody sport has been inherited from the Spanish.

Morrissey showed the crowd grotesque photos of animals' deaths as he performed "The Bullfighter Dies," a song off his latest album, as well as the Smiths classic "Meat is Murder."

"It is termed bullfighting even though no fight is possible: the bull has no defense against a large parade of miserably gleeful 'bullfighters,' their superiority complex so full of airs and graces, yet unable to face the bull without a slew of weaponry and support," Morrissey wrote ahead of the concert on True to You, a website where he often makes statements.

"In 2015!? In civil Peru!? Such an ancient ache shreds Peruvian society, and drops any civilization low on the totem pole," he wrote.

Morrissey also performed "I'm Throwing My Hands Around Paris," which appeared on his 2009 album "Years of Refusal" but which he transformed into a song of solidarity with the French capital after the November 13 attacks.