Manu Dibango: The Afro-jazz legend who changed industry

The death of Cameroonian legend Manu Dibango on Tuesday at the age of 86, a week after contracting the coronavirus, brought to an end an astonishing career that spanned more than six decades, cut across Africa and the world, and popularised a genre whose influence spread into pop, hip-hop and reggae.

The enduring image of Manu Dibango in the minds of the fans who attended his last concert in Nairobi during the International Jazz Day concert at the Carnivore on May 1, 2018 was an improvised jam session with a group of top Kenyan saxophonists

Edward Parsees, band leader of Different Faces, who was among those on the stage that night, recalls Dibango conducting the horn section at the end of that concert.

“That session was great fun. On the two occasions I met and played with Dibango, he insisted that we tell our own stories in our music.”

The “Lion of Cameroon”, who is celebrated as the father of modern African music, was at the forefront of the continent’s music since the 1950s.

The imposing figure with the trademark clean-shaven head and gravel-voice was a multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer, producer and film-score writer who created the unique style of makossa by blending traditional African rhythms with blues, jazz, reggae, highlife, and other global musical influences.

COMMITTED STUDENT

Even at his advanced age, Dibango remained energetic in performance along with his backing band Makossa Gang.

Before his International Jazz Day concert show in 2018, he had performed at the Koroga Festival in 2016, delivering a thrilling mix of his wide catalogue of music.

Born in Douala, Cameroon, in 1933, Emmanuel N’Djoke Dibango went to study in France in 1949, arriving in Marseilles with a small sum of money and three kilos of coffee to pay for his first term in boarding school (his 1994 autobiography is called Three Kilos of Coffee).

He discovered the saxophone as a high school student but could not afford to buy the instrument, so he started by playing the piano.

He lived in Brussels in the late 1950s and was influenced by watching American jazz performers like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Count Bassie.

In 1961, Dibango met Congolese singer and band leader Joseph Kabasale, the Grand Kalle, who was in Brussels as part of the delegation attending the round-table talks on independence for the Congo.

Kabasele hired him to play in his band, African Jazz, and they recorded several songs, including “Independence Cha Cha” and “Table Ronde”.

Dibango founded his own band in 1967 and released his first ever recording a year later.

SIGNATURE SONG

During this time, he also played as band leader and organ player with the French musician Nino Ferrer, becoming the first African musician to integrate into the French music scene and was soon touring and recording with many stars, leading his own band and popularising the makossa sound.

During that period, he also hosted the first Black-oriented French TV show “Pulstations”.

In 1970, he arranged the music and played piano and sax for Congolese singer and composer Franklin Boukaka on the classic album “Franklin Boukaka a’Paris” - including the timeless “Le Bucheron” (“Aye Africa”).

He paid tribute to his association with Congolese music by recording the album “From Congo”, which was a reference to the popular music styles of the country, soukous and rhumba.

His own Douala community traces its roots to the Congo, and the dialect shares many idioms with the Congolese.

A turning point in his career came in 1972 when he was picked to write an anthem for the eighth Africa Cup of Nations football tournament in Cameroon that year.

As he flew to record in Paris, he wrote another song for the flip side of that record.

The song was never performed in public at the time, but when Dibango rehearsed it with his band, his kids loved it. That song turned out to be his signature song “Soul Makossa”.

GRAMMY NOMINATIONS

“Soul Makossa” made him the first African musician to score a Top 40 hit in the US after a major label, Atlantic Records, bought the licence from a French company.

It earned him two Grammy Award nominations, and he toured the US for two years playing at every major venue, including the legendary Apollo Theatre on a double bill with the legendary Motown group the Temptations.

He performed the song at the historic Zaire 74 concert preceding the “Rumble in the Jungle” heavyweight boxing clash between Mohammed Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, accompanied by the band of salsa greats Fania All Stars.

Michael Jackson sampled the song’s refrain “mama-say, mama-sa, ma-makossa” for his hit “Wanna Be Startin Somethin”, off the album “Thriller”, in 1983.

It was later the subject of a copyright infringement case brought against both Michael and Rihanna, who had adapted it for her 2007 single “Don’t Stop The Music”.

There had been a financial settlement with Michael earlier, while the claims on the Rihanna song were dismissed because Dibango had already agreed to songwriting credits.

Throughout his long career, Dibango worked with and influenced some of the world’s biggest stars, such as Bob Marley, Harry Belafonte, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Fela Kuti, Papa Wemba and Hugh Masekela.

During his years in Côte d’Ivoire, 1976-1978, he would often take a trip to Lagos, Nigeria, and memorably jammed with Fela at his legendary club, the Shrine.

GREAT MENTOR

He recorded a double album, “Gone Clear”/“Manu in Jamaica”, in 1979, produced by the legendary Chris Blackwell of Island Records, and had fond memories of stopping by Bob Marley’s residence at 56 Hope Road in Kingston every morning for a chat.

A few months later, he played with Bob and Stevie Wonder during a convention in Philadelphia, US.

Dibango mentored younger musicians and his recommendation opened doors for his compatriots, like the highly acclaimed guitarist Richard Bona, to breakthrough on the international scene

In the mid 1980s, Dibango recorded with jazz heavyweights like Herbie Hancock and Bill Laswell, and by the early 90s, had earned respect on the hip-hop scene, as can be heard on the 1990 album “Polysonik”, an eclectic sound that combined Makossa with dance, jazz and hip-hop.

Through the years, “Soul Makossa” has been sampled by Jay Z, Kanye West, Will Smith, the Fugees and other rappers.

Dibango’s seminal 1994 album “Wakafrika” (a play on ‘Walk Africa’), released to commemorate his 60th birthday, brought together Africa’s best known artists: Youssou N’Dour, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Salif Keita, Ray Lema, King Sunny Ade and Angelique Kidjo.

FANTASTIC SOUND

One of his boldest projects in recent years was “Past Present and Future” in 2011, recorded with a new generation of young stars like Cameroonian rappers Lalcko and Pit Baccardi, Moroccan singer Oum, the rapper Passi from Congo-Brazaville and rock band Safehaus.

The album, which included a new version of “Soul Makossa”, was a fusion of his trademark makossa with electronic beats and hip-hop.

All through his long career, Dibango defied categorisation and was always on the edge of contemporary styles, which he effortlessly fused with his signature makossa.

Edward Parsees, who performed on the same stage with the Cameroonian legend twice, says his prowess on the saxophone was brilliant.

“Dibango had a fantastic sound on the sax, hitting the high notes with ease. His tenor on soprano, alto and tenor sax was exceptional.”

Dibango’s last album was “M & M”, a 2017 collaboration with his longtime music partner Moreira Chonguica, the saxophonist from Mozambique.

He called the album an “Africa rereading” of well-known jazz standards “Take 5” and “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise”.

In total, he released over 40 albums and nearly 800 songs in a career spanning more than 60 years.

His age-mate, the iconic American producer and arranger Quincy Jones, who first met Dibango in the 1950s, summed up the extraordinary life and career of Dibango in his tribute: “…..his contributions to music as we know it today are unparalleled.”