Manu Dibango

Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango left an indelible mark on African pop music with his exuberant funk grooves and indomitable positive energy. A saxophonist, vibraphone player and songwriter, he first vaulted to wide acclaim in 1972 with “Soul Makossa”, a juicy slab of Afrofunk best known for its catchy refrain—“mama-say, mama-sa, mama-kossa”—which Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson later borrowed for the opening track of Thriller. Dibango was born in 1933 in the city of Douala. Although his Protestant parents initially disapproved of secular music, he secretly honed his skills as a child with the help of a homemade guitar and bamboo flute, and he later picked up the saxophone while studying in France. A stint in the Congolese group African Jazz in the late ’50s boosted his profile across the African continent, and by the ’70s he was releasing albums on Island Records and writing movie scores for acclaimed projects like the 1977 Senegalese drama Ceddo. Vigorous, uplifting funk formed the heart of Dibango’s sound, but his prolific discography also includes forays into hip-hop, reggae and jazz—not to mention collaborations with heavy hitters such as Peter Gabriel and Herbie Hancock. Dibango passed away from complications related to Covid in 2020, but his legacy looms large.