The Rough Guide to Manu Dibango

A sax-player, composer, singer, pianist and arranger, Manu Dibango is Cameroon’s best-known musician – most famous for his 1973 saxophone-driven instrumental ‘Soul Makossa’ – and one of a handful of musical monoliths from Africa able to stand on equal footing with superstars from Europe or America. Since the early 1960s, he has been rolling out self-composed hit recordings in a wide variety of genres including Congolese, Latin, West African, Caribbean, funk, soul, cabaret, folklore, chanson, gospel, rap and, the groove he made his own, makossa. The Rough Guide To Manu Dibango has been compiled with the input, co-operation and authorisation of the artist, and displays the full spectrum of his work over more than forty years in the groove. The Cameroonian sax virtuoso, multi-instrumentalist and singer-composer Manu Dibango first achieved international fame during the seventies with an R&B-infused hit called "Soul Makossa." The artist was on tour in Africa--this was before email and cell phones--when the track was released. He never imagined that a humble B-side would make him world-famous. Since then, the Paris-based bandleader has parlayed his shaven head, infectious grin and deep, Barry-White-like voice into a franchise. He has never ceased experimenting and is now a beloved elder statesman of the African music scene. The present career retrospective covers his trajectory from the sixties through the early nineties. During that timeline, he moved through post-independence Congolese rumba, kaleidoscopic soundtrack-like sinfonias, funk-laced big-band work-outs and Ellington-influenced orchestral extravaganzas. The album closes with an extended rendition of his signature tune, playfully updated via a fat bass, turntable scratching, and a wicked back-beat, called "Makossa Blow." --Christina Roden