Manu Dibango RIP

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Veteran Afro-jazz star Manu Dibango died on Tuesday after contracting the coronavirus, his music publisher told AFP.

The 86-year-old Cameroonian, best known for the 1972 hit "Soul Makossa", is one of the first worldwide stars to die as a result of COVID-19.

"He died early this morning in a hospital in the Paris region," his music publisher Thierry Durepaire said.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"Soul Makossa" - I remember buying this album when it came out. In WH Smith's, how "exotic"!http://youtu.be/EF92yOsv3Y8

[Constantbee]

"Soul Makossa" - I remember buying this album when it came out. In WH Smith's, how "exotic"!http://youtu.be/EF92yOsv3Y8

Thanks for the link BR. Instantly recognisable as a big 70's disco classic. Try this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6zHgYzc8wA

It's a clip from Jazz Vienne 2019. Maybe one of his last live performances?

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Thanks for that...

Guardian Obit just now...

"Manu Dibango, the Cameroonian musician celebrated for his blend of jazz, funk and traditional west African styles, has died aged 86 in a Paris hospital after contracting Covid-19.
A message on his Facebook page announced the news with “deep sadness”, and added: “His funeral service will be held in strict privacy, and a tribute to his memory will be organised when possible.”

Dibango was born in 1933 in Douala, Cameroon. He attended high school in France and began learning instruments: first the piano, then saxophone – for which he became best known – and vibraphone. “The blacks that we saw [in France] were either boxers like Sugar Ray Robinson – or jazzmen,” he remembered in a 2018 interview. “So, we ended up going down to the cellars in Paris, where we could see the [Louis] Armstrongs and the Count Basies with whom we identified.”
He moved to Brussels and toured Europe with Africa Jazz under bandleader Joseph Kabasele, and spent time in Congo and Cameroon before returning to Paris in 1965.
He blended the cosmopolitan styles from Africa and Europe into his own fusion, resulting in his biggest hit, Soul Makossa, with a blazing saxophone line over a breakbeat and Dibango’s spoken vocals, originally written for the 1972 African Cup of Nations football tournament.

The line “mama-say, mama-sa, ma-makossa” from Michael Jackson’s Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ was lifted from Dibango’s chorus on Soul Makossa – Dibango sued Jackson over the uncredited interpolation, winning an out of court settlement. In 2009, he took Jackson to court again along with Rihanna, whose track Don’t Stop the Music also uses the chorus line, but the complaint was deemed inadmissible.
Dibango went on to tour widely off the back of the track’s success, and collaborated with Hugh Masekela, Fela Kuti, Herbie Hancock and more. His tracks were also sampled by artists including Busta Rhymes and the Chemical Brothers.
Musicians paying tribute include Angelique Kidjo, who said on Twitter: “You’re the original Giant of African Music and a beautiful human being.”

RIP.

[Serial_Apologist]

How very very sad.

[Ian Thumwood]

Thanks for the link BR. Instantly recognisable as a big 70's disco classic. Try this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6zHgYzc8wA

It's a clip from Jazz Vienne 2019. Maybe one of his last live performances?

I missed this last year as I think he was playing on the all night concert which starts at 8.30pm and continues onto about 7am in the morning. You have to sit on a cushion because the seats are actually the stone steps of the theatre! I did hear him several years beforehand and the music was agreeable although I am not quite so sure how much of a jazz purist he was. As states above, the disco element is pretty strong. The music is fun and nice to listen to.

[johncorrigan]

Very sad to hear the news about this wonderful musician.