The saxophonist has become the legend of Afro - Jazz Manu Dipango, 86, who described himself as a "builder of bridges between the West and Africa", the first global person to fall victim to the emerging Corona virus (Covid 19). Dibango has become a world star thanks to his hit song "Sol Makusa".

"I enjoy Bach and Handel in my ears with Cameroonian words," the late, in an interview with AFP, said in August. This is a rich source. In life I prefer to have many options and not one option, ”sometimes stopping to make his famous thunderous laugh.

"His legacy will be vast and will continue," said Martin Messoni, CD director and famous producer, commenting on Dibango's death. He had a creative talent that made people dance with unbeatable effectiveness. ”

Singer Yeosu Nador tweeted, expressing his grief: "I was the older brother and a source of pride and pride for Cameroon and Africa as a whole."

"The world of music has lost a legendary artist," French Culture Minister Frank Rester said on social media.

Dibango's march is out of the beaten path, as he neither dreamed of going into art nor performing his songs as Yunus or Rihanna. Emmanuel Njoket Dibango was born on December 12, 1933 in Douala, Cameroon and received strict education.

The late artist said, "My uncle was playing harnum, and my mother was running the church choir. "I am a person who was brought up in a religious atmosphere." His father, an official, sent him to France at the age of 15, hoping to become an engineer or a doctor.

After a 21-day cruise in the sea, Mano Debango arrived in Marseille, and moved from there to Saint-Calais (west). He carried with him in his bags "three kilograms of coffee" and it was a rare commodity in the post-war period to pay the family that hosted him. His memoirs later titled "Three Kilos of Coffee".

Then he studied at Chartres, where he took his first steps in the field of music on mandolin and piano.

In this white-dominated world, the teenager who admits he did not know African culture is represented by black American stars in that period of Count Bacy, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker, who have become "heroes".

Manu Dipango also discovered the saxophone during a summer vacation camp, and then he failed his high school diploma. His angry father decided to stop sending money to him in 1956. He moved to Brussels and started playing varieties to earn a living.

During his stay in Belgium, he met two main people in his life, the blonde Marie-Jose, known as "Coco", who became his wife, and Joseph Kabasili, leader of the African Jazz Orchestra.

Congolese music gave him the joy of Africa, its independence from colonialism.

Manu Debango accompanied him to Leopoldville (formerly Kinshasa), where he launched a twist wave in 1962 and then opened a hall in Cameroon.
He returned to France after three years without any money. A pianist became an accompaniment to rock singer Rick Rivers, and then an organist and conductor with Nino Ferrer.

In 1972 he was asked to compose an anthem for the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon. On the other side of the disc, he recorded the song "Sol Makusa", which was liked by CD curators in New York, to start a new career with the artist.

The saxophone performed at the Apollo Theater, the stronghold of black American music in Harlem, and added new rhythms to his music through tours in South America.

In 1982, Michael Jackson used portions of "Sol Makusa" in his famous album "Thriller" without prior permission. Manu Dipango filed a series of suits for artistic theft before the two parties reached a financial settlement. However, the main gain was the transformation of Dibango into a world repertoire in what is known as world music.