Manu Dibango was a Cameroonian saxophonist and songwriter. Manu Dibango was a Cameroonian musical style that fused jazz, funk, and traditional Cameroonian music.

Early life of Manu Dibango

Manu Dibango was born on December 12, 1933, in Douala, Cameroon, as Emmanuel Dibango N’Djocke. However, he died from COVID-19 at the age of 86. (24 March 2020). His father is a civil servant named Michel Manfred N’Djoké Dibango. Her mother was a successful fashion designer who owned her own small business.

He also lacked siblings, though he did have a stepbrother from his father’s previous marriage. In Cameroon, one’s ethnicity is determined by one’s father, though Dibango wrote in his autobiography, Three Kilos of Coffee, that he “never felt completely at home with either of [his] parents.”

Dibango gradually forgot Yabassi in favor of Duala during his childhood. His family, on the other hand, lived in the Yabassi encampment on the Yabassi plateau. Dibango went to a Protestant church every night for religious education, also known as nkouaida.

Dibango went to a colonial school near his home after finishing his education at his village school. He adored his teacher, whom he referred to as a “extraordinary draftsman and painter.” When French President Charles de Gaulle arrived in Cameroon in 1944, he chose this school to conduct the welcoming ceremonies. Dibango relocated to France to pursue a music education. He began learning the piano.

Who is Manu Dibango Wife?

To date, no information is available about his dating history. He has never made any public comments about his personal life. According to some sources, he had three children, Georgia Dibango, Marva Dibango, and Michel Dibango. His wife’s name, on the other hand, remains unknown. Manu, on the other hand, has not been involved in any rumors of an affair or other controversies.

How much is Manu Dibango Net Worth?

Manu must have previously been active on a number of social media platforms. We were unable to locate any of his social media accounts because he had already died. However, he appears to be active on Twitter, where he has over 1,000 followers under the handle ‘@ManuDibango.’ He was also on Facebook, where he had over 60K followers.

He was a legend and one of the greatest African musicians of all time. His contribution cannot be described in words. His exact fortune and net worth is estimated to be in the $100 million range. The majority of his wealth, however, came from his musical career and other sources. Aside from music, he had invested in stocks, real estate, and endorsement deals. In addition, he created brands for food, fashion, and lifestyle items.

How tall is Manu Dibango?

Manu was a charming individual. He is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs approximately 96 kilograms. The measurements of his chest, waist, and biceps were 44-34-16 inches. In addition, he wore a size 11 shoe (US). He sported a bald head and dark brown eyes.

Career line of Manu Dibango

• Manu began classical piano lessons at the age of 17, and a few years later he began saxophone lessons after being inspired by the music of Duke Ellington, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, and other jazz artists. He formed a jazz band with noted Cameroonian guitarist and composer Francis Bebey and quickly rose to prominence on the local jazz scene.
• Dibango relocated to Brussels in 1956, where he not only learned to play the vibraphone but also broadened his stylistic vocabulary to include various West African forms, most notably makossa, a Douala-based Cameroonian genre.
• He started to realize his dream of creating a new musical sound by combining jazz and African popular traditions.
• In 1960, Manu toured Europe with African Jazz, a band led by Congolese musician Joseph Kabasele, who shared Dibango’s interest in musical fusion.
• After the tour, he followed Kabasele to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he stayed until 1963, when he returned to Cameroon. He started his own band there and continued to learn about African regional styles.
• After returning to Paris in 1965, Manu worked as a studio musician, backing many African American and African artists at a time when Europe was riding the wave of soul music. He kept experimenting with new jazz hybrids. And a wide range of popular music, particularly from Africa and the African diaspora.
• In 1972, he included one such experiment on the B-side of a single when he released a song commissioned to write for the African Cup of Nations football (soccer) match.
• Furthermore, that agreement resulted in “Soul Makossa,” a fusion of jazz, makossa, and soul music that ultimately marked a watershed moment in his career. Though Europeans were aware of it, North America was unaware of both “Soul Makossa” and Dibango himself until the song was discovered and broadcast in 1973 by a New York City radio disc jockey.
• ‘Soul Makossa’ swept the United States, catapulting Dibango to the forefront of popular music. Michael Jackson popularized it with the refrain “ma-ma say, ma-ma sa, ma ma-coo-sa” at the end of his 1982 album “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.”
• Manu traveled around the world, absorbing new sounds and working on projects with musicians from various Afro-Caribbean, African, and African American popular music genres. In 1973, he toured internationally with the Fania All-Stars, an American salsa band.
• After many years, he recorded two albums, Gone Clear (1980) and Ambassador (1980), with a slew of Jamaica’s most prominent reggae musicians.
• Meanwhile, he released the Africa-focused albums Home Made (1978), which featured Nigerian and Ghanaian musicians, and Waka Juju (1979). (1982). It drew on elements from a variety of popular African styles.
• Furthermore, following the release of the funk-tinged Surtension (1982), Dibango collaborated with an international lineup of jazz luminaries, including American pianist Herbie Hancock in Electric Africa (1985) and South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela in Afrijazzy (1986). (1986).
• In the 1990s and 2000s, his jazz fusions drew from a wide range of popular music. Polysonik (1991) twisted rap, jazz, and many African traditions, while Wakafrika (1994) brought together African vocal virtuosos Youssou N’Dour (Senegal) and King Sunny Ade (Ivory Coast) (Nigeria).
• Others include Salif Keita (Mali), Angélique Kidjo (Benin), Ray Lema (Congo), and the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. On the album Lamastabastani, Manu returned to his spiritual roots with a blend of gospel music, spirituals, and rhythm and blues (1995).
• Manu’s early-twentieth-century albums were mostly retrospective. Africadeli, for example, is a collection of his most popular songs. He put it out to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the “Soul Makossa” explosion.
• In 2007, he released Manu Dibango joue Sidney Bechet, an all-jazz tribute to saxophonist Sidney Bechet. Dibango’s musical development had been shaped by his exposure to music.
• Manu has also written music for films and television shows. In 1990, he and Danielle Rouard co-authored the autobiography Three Kilos of Coffee. Taking into account a strong and ongoing concern for humanity’s well-being. And he frequently used his music and celebrity to raise funds for various humanitarian causes.
• In 2004, UNESCO named him the Peace Artist of the Year in recognition of his contributions to the development of music and his promotion of cross-cultural dialogue through the arts, particularly between Europe, Africa, and North America.
• The Douala-born songwriter sued Jackson and Rihanna in 2009 for using the Soul Makossa hook without permission. It’s claimed that when Rihanna asked Jackson to use the hook from Don’t Stop The Music, Jackson agreed without consulting Dibango.