Manu Dibango, a big fan of beautiful football

Text by: Annie Gasnier Follow

Guest of the Radio Foot Internationale show on his 80th birthday, the music legend had entrusted his passion and admiration for great players, from the Brazilian Pelé to his Cameroonian compatriot Samuel Eto'o.

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" I was a very bad player, but I am a very good lover of the beautiful game "! Manu Dibango never dreamed of being a footballer. The ball was just one of his " satellite passions " outside of music.

But kid, in the streets of Douala, he also had fun, shooting rather in an orange or a bottle. " Inevitably we were playing soccer ! It's the cheapest thing in the neighborhood when you're a kid, ”he told us.

His idol was then Samuel Mbappé Léppé, star of the local club l'Oryx in the years 1950-1960, then captain of the "Indomitable Lions" nicknamed the "Marshal". " He had a fantastic strike, I knew him well, he was my link when I went to the country, " says the musician whose career was still in its infancy in France where he lived.

Listen to Manu Dibango in Radio Foot Internationale (Audio)

A crazy story of hymns

And it all started the day when two of his passions met! “ In 1964, Cameroon organized the Tropics Cup, a vague ancestor of the CAN. And then I recorded a song that said " Float flags on Yaoundé, for the Tropics Cup " and we won the trophy ! "

Eight years later, his country hosting the CAN this time, Manu Dibango is a candidate for the anthem competition. He wins and we send him to Paris to record it. “ It was a 45 rpm and on one side of this little vinyl there was the anthem, but we needed a B side! So I thought of a song that kids asked for when I rehearsed ... And today, everyone has forgotten the anthem! In addition, we had lost to the Congo ! Because on side B Manu Dibango had for the first time engraved, in 1972, Soul Makossa , his hymn to him, become a world standard in music.

► READ: Death of Manu Dibango: from "Soul Makossa" to world music

The friend of footballers

And his path crossed many other stars of the ball. Starting with that of the Brazilian Pelé, a "God" met several times. In 1994, on promotion in the United States, which hosts the World Cup, he attended matches in Cameroon. “ Roger Milla was still playing, a great artist ! Who doesn't remember his little step towards Makossa when he scored at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, huh ?! He was a good friend . "

Another friend, the former Cameroon international goalkeeper, Joseph Antoine Bell. “ We often saw each other when I played in France , says the former player. In addition, we participated in forums, meetings like the gala for Léopold Sédar Senghor that I had organized in 1986 in Marseille. Another time, I was invited to radio France Inter and Manu Dibango came with me, and his new 33 laps, which I still have in my hands and which had revived his career . From Douala where he lives, Bell testifies to the sadness which, on this rainy day, fell on the city.

The tribute of Joseph-Antoine Bell to Manu Dibango (Video)

The former Marseille idol laughs at the anecdote told by Manu Dibango about his French club at heart: “ It's OM ! But now, and I'm the only one who can say that in France, I like PSG. Because I love beautiful games and Zlatan is something ! "

However he remained biting towards the Parisian club: “ A good team is not an addition of virtuosos who will make a good orchestra. You need a good chef with a baguette. "

Yannick Noah's tribute

Manu Dibango had also had the chance to attend the Auguste Delaunes stadium in Reims in the heyday of the 1950s, citing head-on the players he had encouraged on Sunday: Kopa, Piantoni, Marche. " The derbies facing Sedan were hot, there was the boar at the edge of the field "!

And in the ranks of the Ardennes club, another Cameroonian friend, Zacharie Noah, father of the singer and former great tennis player Yannick Noah, who remembered on RFI today: "He was a friend of the family but he was our uncle to all. A great sage. He opened the way for us, he broke boundaries with his music, his talent and his big heart. He advised me on music, and I had fulfilled a dream playing with him. I admired him. "

In great wisdom, he was not impatient to see an African team winning the World Cup: " Our independence is recent, we must organize. Already, very big players have appeared, Samuel Eto'o of course, who made the ballet dance, but also Didier Drogba, Yaya Touré ... The movement is launched, it will come . In his inimitable laugh, he added: " Rather than 80 brooms, I would prefer to have 80 balloons." "

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