On Tour: Manu Dibango (Cameroon)
Not just a saxophonist: Manu Dibango is an institution! The global fusion he created in the 1950s made the "Soul Makossa" star a genuine world-music pioneer in Africa. New album planned for next autumn.
On Tour: March 02 - 20, 2013 / Germany, Austria
Line-up: Manu Dibango - saxophone, vocals, marimba Line-up subject to change.
On Stage: 6 Travel Party: 10
YouTube Videos: Manu Dibango live at the Barbican, London (2007) Manu Dibango live in London (2004) Manu Dibango live in Paris (2005)
Artist Website: www.manudibango.net
Biography: Who knows? If he had not been born under the star sign of Sagittarius, he might never have had the temperament of a nomad and the taste for adventure... Having been sent to Europe at the age of 15, he would have come back an academic success. As it was, he was affected by musical grace in the very first years in the protestant temple. Little Manu on the road between Paris and Brussels, thanks to the masters he discovers (Armstrong, Ellington, Young, Parker...), wandering in places where jazz rips the nights apart voluptuously, a musician's soul was being formed. Then the famous singer Kabasele arrived in Brussels from Zaïre (Democratic State of Congo), and proposes he join their group "African Jazz" to play Congolese music; Manu takes up the challenge. He features in around forty records, then goes on tour near Kinshasa. This was to be a decisive step. An idea was gradually taking shape during his life as a well-known musician: to invent a patchwork made up of rich and spirited conversations between jazz and African styles of music. Being of an eclectic mind, listening to the sounds of his era - in 1972 Soul Makossa was the first "French" hit to conquer the States - Manu takes secret pleasure in breaking the musical chapels, building bridges between continents and throwing passageways between tradition and the sounds of future. The first in France to clear the land where the African wave was well established; he produced albums and went on tour endlessly with warm, passionate enthusiasm and committed himself to humanitarian causes, giving a hand to young talents along the way. He used his time to create musical scores for African music and ever to write his own autobiography. Time to call it a day? Definitely not!
Discography: 1972 Soul Makossa - Atlantic 1973 Oboso - London 1974 Makossa Man - Atlantic 1975 Makossa Music - Creole 1976 Manu 76 - Decca 1976 Super Kumba - Decca 1978 Afrovision - Island 1978 A l'Olympia - Fiesta 1978 Sun Explosion - Decca 1980 Gone Clear - Mango 1981 Ambassador - Mango 1985 Electric Africa - Celluloid 1987 Afrijazzy - Urban 1989 Deliverance - Afro Rhythmes 1989 Happy Feeling - Sterns 1989 Waku Juju - Disque 1989 Rasta Souvenir - Disque 1989 Homecade - Sterns 1992 Polysonik - Sound Wave 1994 Live '91 - Stern's Music 1994 Seventies - Sonodisc 1994 Tropical Garden - Sonodisc 1994 Wakafrika - Giant 1995 Negropolitaines, Vol. 2 - Melodie 1996 Lamastabatani - Melodie 1996 Bao Bao - M.I.L. 2000 Mboa' Su - JPS 2001 Kamer Feeling JPS 2002 Electric Africa - Varese 2003 Cubafrica - Melodie 2003 Dance with Manu Dibango - Masterplan 2003 From Africa - Soul Makossa 2006 The Very Best of African Soul - UMe Imports 2006 La Jamaique - Soul Makossa 2006 Sax & Spirituals Lamastabastani - Soul Makossa 2006 Soft and Sweet - Soul Makossa 2007 Lion of Africa - Global Mix Music 2008 African Woodoo - jpc 2011 Past Present Future - Wayne Beckford
For booking, contact:
Nova Concerts International Booking Agency for Jazz, World Music and Pop Tel: +33 553 585256 Mail: wolf@novaconcerts.com Web: www.novaconcerts.com
