Manu Dibango

Manu Dibango

Emmanuel N'Djoké "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 COVID-19 on 24 March 2020. Emmanuel "Manu" Dibango was born in Douala, Cameroon in 1933. His father, Michel Manfred N'Djoké Dibango, was a civil servant. Son of a farmer, he met his wife travelling by pirogue to her residence, Douala. Emmanuel's 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 father's previous marriage, who was four years older than him. In Cameroon, one's ethnicity is dictated by one's 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". Dibango's uncle was the leader of his extended family. Upon his death, Dibango's father refused to take over, as he never fully initiated his son into the Yabassi's 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 Saint-Calais, 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 re-mixed 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 R&B 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 Dibango's native tongue, the Cameroonian language Duala. The song has influenced popular music hits, including Kool and the Gang's "Jungle Boogie". ... Source: Article "Manu Dibango" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

  • Title: Manu Dibango
  • Popularity: 1.816
  • Known For: Sound
  • Birthday: 1933-12-12
  • Place of Birth: Douala, Cameroon
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As: Emmanuel N'Djoké Manu Dibango
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Manu Dibango Movies

  • 2013
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    Nos plus belles années 80 : La Compil !

    Nos plus belles années 80 : La Compil !

    8 2013 HD

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  • 2022
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    Soul Makossa Manu Dibango jazz Open Stuttgart - 1995

    Soul Makossa Manu Dibango jazz Open Stuttgart - 1995

    1 2022 HD

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  • 1976
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    Salsa

    Salsa

    1 1976 HD

    The Fania All Stars perform for 44,000 fans at Yankee stadium in New York. Besides concert footage, there's also included a history of Salsa, and...

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  • 2009
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    Soul Power

    Soul Power

    6.3 2009 HD

    Soul Power is a 2008 documentary film about the Zaire 74 music festival in Kinshasa which accompanied the Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight boxing...

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  • 2019
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    Africa Rising

    Africa Rising

    7.5 2019 HD

    How African artists have spread African culture all over the world, especially music, since the harsh years of decolonization, trying to offer a...

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  • 1992
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    Changa Changa, rythmes en noirs et blancs

    Changa Changa, rythmes en noirs et blancs

    1 1992 HD

    A rare documentary made in Brussels in the early nineties collecting witnesses on how local and Congolese musicians enriched each other including...

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  • 2014
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    Manu Dibango fête ses 80 ans à l'Olympia de Paris

    Manu Dibango fête ses 80 ans à l'Olympia de Paris

    8 2014 HD

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  • 2004
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    On dirait Nino Ferrer

    On dirait Nino Ferrer

    1 2004 HD

    Nino Ferrer has had several lives: hits that made him famous; a dark but artistically fruitful period; a hidden life -of his own making- breaking...

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  • 1997
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    Black Dju

    Black Dju

    2 1997 HD

    This standard slice-of-life drama is about Dju Dibonga (Richard Courcet), a young man who leaves his home on Cabo Verde, an island of Portuguese...

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  • 2021
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    The Rumba Kings

    The Rumba Kings

    9 2021 HD

    In the fifties, when the future Democratic Republic of Congo was still a Belgian colony, an entire generation of musicians fused traditional African...

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  • 1990
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    Paris Black Night

    Paris Black Night

    1 1990 HD

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  • 2005
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    Kirikou and the Wild Beasts

    Kirikou and the Wild Beasts

    6.3 2005 HD

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  • 1994
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    Black Light

    Black Light

    1 1994 HD

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  • 1977
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    Outsiders

    Outsiders

    6.9 1977 HD

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  • 1982
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    Forty Deuce

    Forty Deuce

    5.3 1982 HD

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  • 2004
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    Hollow City

    Hollow City

    6.2 2004 HD

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  • 1976
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    Countdown at Kusini

    Countdown at Kusini

    1 1976 HD

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  • 2003
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    The Silence of the Forest

    The Silence of the Forest

    6 2003 HD

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  • 2002
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    11’09”01—September 11

    11’09”01—September 11

    6.4 2002 HD

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  • 2002
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    My Voice

    My Voice

    6.5 2002 HD

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  • 2004
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    Kounandi

    Kounandi

    1 2004 HD

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  • 1972
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    The Tam Tams Are Silent

    The Tam Tams Are Silent

    1 1972 HD

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  • 1985
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    Victoires de la musique

    Victoires de la musique

    2 1985 HD

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  • 1986
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    Ambitions

    Ambitions

    4 1986 HD

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  • 1972
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    Le Grand Échiquier

    Le Grand Échiquier

    8 1972 HD

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  • 1982
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    Champs-Elysées

    Champs-Elysées

    6.2 1982 HD

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  • 1998
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    Vivement dimanche

    Vivement dimanche

    3.2 1998 HD

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  • 1987
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    Téléthon

    Téléthon

    5 1987 HD

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