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It
is almost impossible to find a fitting description for a musician
such as Manu Dibango who has made such an enormous contribution
to African music as a whole. He is a saxophonist, nicknamed
'The lion of Cameroon', from a track on The Very Best of
African Soul album. Originally trained in classical
piano, his musical career began in Brussels and Paris in the
1950s. 1960 finds him in Congo as a member of African Jazz led
by Joseph Kabasele (Le Grand Kalle)! He formed his own band
in Cameroon in 1963, moving to Paris in 1965. His international
breakthrough came in 1972 with Soul Makossa.
Manu Dibango is extraordinarily versatile,
having played almost every style of music you care to mention:
soul, reggae, jazz, spirituals, blues... Dibango features on
albums by Angelique Kidjo, Anne-Marie
Nzié, Meiway and Kékélé
(Kinavana, 2006) and, on his Wakafrika album
of 1994, many top African and international musicians contribute
(see CDs), In 1985 Manu raised funds
for famine-striken Ethiopia through his successful 'Tam-Tams
for Ethiopia' project with Mory Kante
and others.
Manu's first album was recorded in 1969
and in 1970 he accompanied Franklin Boukaka on a classic 12-track
album (see CDs). In 2000 two were released:
Anthology, a boxed set of 3 CDs (see CDs)
and Mboa' Su (see CDs) which
includes a new arrangement of Franklin Boukaka's track 'Aye
Africa'
(Le Bucheron), made for the
millennium celebrations on Robben Island in the presence of
Nelson Mandela
and Thabo Mbeki. Listening to the Anthology
CDs you will find some amazing
contrasts from one track to the next.
An album with a difference was released in 2002: entitled B
Sides, most of the tracks are remastered from recordings
in the 1970s where Manu plays,
not sax, but the marimba and vibraphone. There are Rough
Guides to |
the
music of whole countries but Manu warrants one all to himself:
the 13-track album The Rough Guide to Manu Dibango
(2004) has the full range of his songs, classics and rarities
(see CDs).
Manu's autobiography was originally published
in French in 1989 with the English translation,Three Kilos
of Coffee, published in 1994 (see Reading).
The book makes fascinating reading as Manu describes his experiences
personally. In 1984 he originated the word 'negropolitain'.
Manu performed alongside Cuban Clave Y
Guaguanco at the Barbican in London in 1999 and played there
again in April 2001 with the spectacular Afro-Funk Big Band
including Richard Bona, Claude
Deppa and Tony Allen. In 2003
he was on
stage with Ray Lema at WOMAD Reading (see photo
above)! In September that same year Manu was in London, where
he had a brand new collaboration with the Soweto String Quartet
for an evening of songs of struggle and liberation.
To celebrate his 70th birthday Manu had a unique concert with
special guests at London's Barbican in October 2004.
A major event for 2007 is Manu's celebration of his 50 years
in music, coinciding with the release of a CD/DVD 'The Lion
of Africa'. |
Manu
Dibango