Manu Dibango

Manu Dibango (actually: Emmanuel N'Djoké Dibango, born December 12, 1933, Douala ) is a saxophonist, pianist and vibraphonist from Cameroon. He developed by combining jazz with traditional Cameroonian music and popular dance music Cameroonian Makossa its own style of music.

Life and work

Manu Dibango was born in Douala in a Protestant environment should. He is like his father to the ethnicity of Yabassi, while his mother was a Duala. As a student he discovered in Chartres during the 1950s for jazz and learned to play the piano. In Reims, where he prepared for his baccalaureate, he began with the saxophone and began performing in nightclubs, to the great chagrin of his father, then in 1956 the maintenance stroked him.

A number of contracts took him to Brussels, where he Coco, his wife met, to Antwerp and Charleroi. During this time, " Africanized " his jazz style through contact with the Congolese milieu that originated in Belgium as a result of immigration from Zaire before and after its independence in 1960. Joseph Kabasele hired him for his orchestra Le Grand Kallé et l' African Jazz, and took with him numerous plates, which had great success in Africa and led her to Leopoldville, where Manu 1962 made ​​the Twist popular. The return to Cameroon, however, proved difficult and Manu Dibango went again to France.

He had engagements with Dick Rivers and Nino Ferrer, big names of the time, but after 1969 he was able to continue with shots of his own compositions to his African successes.

Soul Makossa

In 1972 he conquered with Soul Makossa (actually the B- side of the single Mouvement Ewondo ) in the United States the charts. It was the first number- one hit of an African musician in the U.S., which Dibango led to a first tour, on which he was able to make numerous contacts with black musicians in the country. With Soul Makossa Makossa also the musical style outside of Cameroon became known. Some of the piece beyond is regarded as crucial to the emergence of disco music. The refrain " mama- se, mama- sa, ma-ma -ko - ssa ", was founded in 1982 by Michael Jackson in his song Wanna Be Startin ' Somethin' used 2006 which is also highly successful song Do not Stop the Music by Rihanna, against both singer Manu Dibango has filed copyright lawsuits. The song was sampled on the resulting 1997 album The Carnival by Wyclef Jean.

Thus a career was set in motion that made him world-famous. Especially the boom of World Music in the 1990s furthered his popularity and led him on numerous tours. Manu Dibango has worked throughout his career with numerous musicians, these include Fela Kuti, Herbie Hancock, Bill Laswell, Bernie Worrell, Youssou N'Dour and reggae musicians Sly & Robbie. In 2013 he put his memories before under the title Balade en saxo de ma vie dans les Behind the scenes ( Éditions de l'Archipel ).

Social commitment

Since the beginning of his career Dibango is committed to promoting the interests of the African continent and is committed to cultural exchange. For this he was awarded in 2004 by UNESCO as " Artist for Peace".

Discography selection

  • Soul Makossa (1972 ) Unidisc
  • O Boso (1973 ) Polygram Records
  • Makossa Man ​​( 1974) Atlantic Records
  • Makossa Music ( 1975)
  • Manu 76 (1976 ) PolyGram Records
  • Super Kumba (1976 ) Decca Records / PolyGram Records
  • Ceddo O.S.T (1977 ) Fiesta Records
  • A l' Olympia ( 1978) Fiesta Records
  • African Vision ( 1978) Mango Records / Iceland / PolyGram Records
  • Sun Explosion (1978 ) Decca / PolyGram Records
  • Gone Clear ( 1980) Mango Records / Iceland / PolyGram Records
  • Ambassador ( 1981) Mango Records / Iceland / PolyGram Records
  • Waka Juju (1982 ) Polydor / PolyGram Records
  • Mboa (1982 ) Sonodisc / African Vision
  • Electric Africa ( 1985) Celluloid Records
  • Afrijazzy (1986)
  • Deliverance (1989 ) African Rhythmes
  • Happy Feeling (1989 ) Stern's Africa
  • Rasta Souvenir ( 1989) Disque Esperance
  • Polysonik (1992 )
  • Live '91 (1994 ) Stern's Music
  • Wakafrika (1994 ) Giant Records / Warner Bros. Records
  • CubAfrica (with Eliades Ochoa ) ( 1998)
  • Gone Clear ( 1998)
  • Mboa ' Su ( 2000) ( JPS Production)
  • Manu Dibango joue Sidney Bechet - Hommage à la Nouvelle- Orléans ( 2007) Cristal Records
  • Past Present Future ( 2011)
  • Balade en saxo (2013 )
Ethnic group Duala people Twist (dance) Polydor Records Piero Scaruffi Integrated Authority File
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