Paris (AFP)

"Builder of bridges between the West and Africa": this is how saxophonist Manu Dibango, the first world personality who died at 86 years old from a coronavirus contamination, described himself, a figure of Afro-jazz who became a star with his hit "Soul Makossa.

"I have the harmony of Bach and Handel in my ear with the Cameroonian lyrics. It is a wealth to be able to have at least two possibilities. In life, I prefer to be stereo than mono", he told AFP in August 2019, punctuating its responses with its thunderous and communicative laugh.

Emmanuel N'Djoké Dibango was born on December 12, 1933 in Douala (Cameroon), into a very strict Protestant family. "My paternal uncle played the harmonium, my mother conducted the choir. I am a child raised in the + Alleluia +. All the same, I am African, Cameroonian and all that", confided this tall figure with the hairless skull to AFP. His father, a civil servant, sent him to France at the age of 15, in the hope of making him an engineer or a doctor.

After 21 days on the boat, Manu Dibango joins Marseille, then Saint-Calais in Sarthe. In his luggage, three kilos of coffee - a scarce commodity immediately after the war - to pay his host family. Then he studied at Chartres, where he made his first musical steps on the mandolin and on the piano.

In this white universe, the adolescent who, by his own admission, "did not know African culture", identifies with the African-American stars of the time. Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker become his "heroes".

- Kinshasa, Brussels, Harlem -

"Papa Manu" discovers the saxophone during a summer camp, drags in the Saint-Germain-des-Près of Boris Vian and ends up failing at the second part of his baccalaureate. His dissatisfied father cut him off in 1956. He then left for Brussels, where he ran the stamp, playing on variety. "In my time, you had to do cabarets, balls, circuses. Playing with an accordionist like André Verchuren guaranteed some dates," he said.

Her Belgian stay was marked by two founding encounters: the blonde Marie-Josée, known as "Coco", who became his wife, and Joseph Kabasélé, conductor of the African Jazz. In the excitement of independence, the Congolese musician opens the doors of Africa to him.

Manu Dibango follows him to Léopoldville (former name of Kinshasa, editor's note) where he launched the twist fashion in 1962, then opened a box in Cameroon.

Three years later, he returned to France, penniless. He became a rock pianist for Dick Rivers, organist and then conductor for Nino Ferrer.

In 1972, he was asked to compose the anthem for the African Cup of Nations in football, to be held in Cameroon. On side B of the 45-laps, he recorded "Soul Makossa". New York DJs fall in love with this syncopated rhythm. Another life begins.

The saxophonist goes to play at the Apollo theater, temple of African-American music in Harlem, mixes a little more by touring in South America.

- Trial against Michael Jackson -

In 1982 came another form of consecration. "Soul Makossa" is sampled by Michael Jackson in his album "Thriller" ... without his permission. Manu Dibango launched the first in a long series of plagiarism trials, which resulted in a financial arrangement. But the victory is elsewhere: the musician has become a world reference in world music.

Coming from a generation who dreamed of Pan-Africanism, he also wore other caps, bringing together musicians from the continent to fight against famine in Ethiopia, directing the Ivorian television orchestra, presiding over the society of copyrights Cameroonian.

"Afro-European", "negro", as he liked to qualify, Manu Dibango admitted however to maintain "ambiguous relations" with his continent. "Each of my stays in Africa ended in disillusionment and injury," he said in his autobiography, "Three kilos of coffee".

jf-ber-cpy-pgr / rh / swi

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