Manu Dibango

Emmanuel NDjoké Manu Dibango 12 December 1933 24 March 2020 was a Cameroonian musician and songwriter who played saxophone and vibraphone He developed a musical style fusing jazz funk and traditional Cameroonian music His father was a member of the Yabassi ethnic group while his mother was a Duala He was best known for his 1972 single Soul Makossa He died from COVID19 on 24 March 2020 Emmanuel Manu Dibango was born in Douala Cameroon in 1933 His father Michel Manfred NDjoké Dibango was a civil servant Son of a farmer he met his wife travelling by pirogue to her residence Douala Emmanuels mother was a fashion designer running her own small business Both her ethnic group the Douala and his the Yabassi viewed this union of different ethnic groups with some disdain Dibango had only a stepbrother from his fathers previous marriage who was four years older than him In Cameroon ones ethnicity is dictated by ones father though Dibango wrote in his autobiography Three Kilos of Coffee that he had never been able to identify completely with either of his parents Dibangos uncle was the leader of his extended family Upon his death Dibangos father refused to take over as he never fully initiated his son into the Yabassis customs Throughout his childhood Dibango slowly forgot the Yabassi language in favour of the Douala However his family did live in the Yabassi encampment on the Yabassi plateau close to the Wouri River in central Douala While a child Dibango attended Protestant church every night for religious education or nkouaida He enjoyed studying music there and reportedly was a fast learner In 1941 after being educated at his village school Dibango was accepted into a colonial school near his home where he learned French He admired the teacher whom he described as an extraordinary draftsman and painter In 1944 French president Charles de Gaulle chose this school to perform the welcoming ceremonies upon his arrival in Cameroon In 1949 at age 15 Dibango was sent to college in SaintCalais France After that he attended the lycée de Chartres where he learned the piano He was a member of the seminal Congolese rumba group African Jazz and has collaborated with many other musicians including Fania All Stars Fela Kuti Herbie Hancock Bill Laswell Bernie Worrell Ladysmith Black Mambazo King Sunny Adé Don Cherry and Sly and Robbie He achieved a considerable following in the UK with a disco hit called Big Blow originally released in 1976 and remixed as a 12 single in 1978 on Island Records In 1998 he recorded the album CubAfrica with Cuban artist Eliades Ochoa At the 16th Annual Grammy Awards in 1974 he was nominated in the categories Best RB Instrumental Performance and Best Instrumental Composition for Soul Makossa The lyrics of the song Soul Makossa on the record of the same name contain the word makossa which refers to a style of Cameroonian urban music and means I dance in Dibangos native tongue the Cameroonian language Duala The song has influenced popular music hits including Kool and the Gangs Jungle Boogie Source Article Manu Dibango from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30