Manu di Bango : The very best of....

The g/f just bought me this for my birthday.

So far, very good. Any opinions as I've never had the pleasure of hearing this fellow before but I can already hear his influence in other morden music (Step forward Michael Jackson , with "Wanna be startin' somethin' ".).

:music:

 

Hi Voodoo,

many happy returns,

Yes Manu Dibango has a popular track called 'Soul Makossa'. This was first a hit in the early 70' but was popular on some of the the quality dancefloors in the 70s. It was one of the first big Afrobeat records. It help put Africa music on the US & UK map. It was the first to hit the US Top 40.

The story of the song is interesting. I understand it was the B side for a tune Manu wrote for the Cameroon national football side who were in a football competition. This was in 1971. The Cameroons got knocked out & the song got forgotten.

But the soong got released on his Album in 1972. 'Soul Makossa' got a release and copies were imported to the US. A famous club owner called Davis Mancuso played it at his club 'The Loft'. A Radio DJ for a station called WBLS-FM, a big black music station into disco music , called Frankie Cocker; picked the tune up & played it. Demand went wide for it. This was due to the Arfican, hypnotic beat that was in tune with the disco sound. Demand for the record caused it to go for big money with bootleged cover versions coming out. Atlantic picked up on the rights & gave it a proper release.

Michael Jackson revived the famous "Ma ma ma, Ma ma sa, Ma ma Makossa" chorus on " Wanna be starting something" from Thriller but had to settle out of court with compensation going to Manu.

SCIDB

 

Wow. I couldn't have envisaged a more comprehensive answer .

It also happens to be a very good collection of tunes.

Cheers.