Upon hearing of the demise of an artist I liked, I've often felt the need to play their records at home and write a short piece in my blog. But after a few times (I posted relevant album presentations for Lemmy, David Bowie and few others) I decided to stop because the deaths were happening too fast for me to keep up, and the blog was in danger of turning into a series of obituaries. I still play the deceased's music at home, and then add their names to my end-of-the-year R.I.P. list. I decided to make an exception this time for Manu Dibango, not because I'm such a big fan but because he's one of the more famous musicians who fell victims to the coronavirus COVID-19 which keeps us all quarantined at home, and which monopolizes the news. So here it is:
Emmanuel N’Djoké (Manu) Dibango was born in (then French) Cameroon in 1933 and picked up the saxophone in France where his family had sent him to study. He played in many clubs in France, and later Belgium where he fell in with the numerous Congolese community (Congo still being a Belgian colony at the time) and joined one of the most popular African bands of the time, African Jazz. Upon return to Paris in the 60's he started working for French pop star Nino Ferrer while perfecting his own style, moving from Congolese rumba towards a mix of jazz, soul, and African music. The oldest tracks here come from 1967 and include an instrumental version of Nino Ferrer's "Je Veux Etre Noir (I want to be black)". Other instrumentals from that year include "Hot Chicken", "Wouri" and the organ driven "From Congo". It's all more or less typical 60's jazz soul featuring Dibango not only on sax but also on Hammond organ. Opener "Dikalo" (also from 1967) is quite different, a heavy funk number similar to the dance hits that were to follow in the 70's. Of course this version is remixed, which could be one of the reasons it sounds much more modern than the other contemporary tunes here. From 1968 there's a soul tune combining his Jimmy Smith-style organ with Carolyn-Aretha's sister-Franklin's considerable vocal talent. 1969's "Soul Machine" is another groovy sax/organ instrumental and the last of the 60's tunes. Then, we enter the 70's with a bang: On 1972's "Soul Makossa" Dibango isn't imitating American Soul anymore. No more Hammond, he's inventing his own sound featuring super funky rhythms, ad-libbed vocals in his native Duala language ("makossa" means "I dance") and hot sax. This time it was the Americans who appropriated his music: Kool & The Gang admittedly tried to copy his sound on "Jungle Boogie" and other hits, Micheal Jackson used the song's refrain in his Thriller LP, etc. The song was a huge hit in the US, and Dibango toured the States extensively but Africa was calling him back, so he relocated to the Ivory Coast for some time. There he recorded in 1977 two of these songs: "Big Blow" was another massive hit in discos around the world, while "Bayam Sellam" is jazzy and more laid-back but still danceable. The musical journey across the world continues with 2 tracks recorded in Jamaica in 1979 featuring the famous rhythm section of Sly and Robbie. It's a great piece of world fusion merging jazz, pop, African and Caribbean influences. His latest period (the CD booklet, neatly distinguishing the enclosed music in 5 periods, entitles it "The Hats Off Years") is represented here by 3 tracks: 1985's "Douala Serenade" is a cool jazz piece, while 1990's "Senga Abélé" mixes his typical makossa sound with acid jazz and rap and 1994's "Wakafrika" incorporates more African elements as he collaborates with French-African drummer Manu Katché and traditional musicians playing instruments like the kora, bellaphone and n'goni. All in all, this is a very good introduction to the artist: it covers many years and different styles (only his early soukous are missing, but this was before he developed his personal style), contains the greatest hits and has a nice, informative, booklet.
***** for Soul Makossa, Big Blow, Wakafrika
**** for Dikalo, Hot Chicken, Douala Serenade, Bayam Sellam, Goro City, Choc 'N' Soul, Senga Abele (Lion Roar)
*** for Soul Machine, Je Veux Etre Noir, Sunday Morning, From Congo, Wouri
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