RIP.
Emmanuel N’Djoké Dibango ... “Manu Dibango” Rest in Peace
First heard his music in the late 70s and liked it. A short profile...
Saxophonist and vibraphone player, born 1933 in Douala, Cameroon. Originally trained in classical piano, his musical career began in Brussels and Paris in the 1950s. He formed his own band in Cameroon in 1963, moving to Paris in 1965. His international breakthrough came in 1972 with Soul Makossa.
He developed a musical style fusing jazz and traditional Cameroonian music. He is a member of the Yabassi ethnic group, though his mother was a Douala.
He has collaborated with many musicians, including Fela Kuti, Herbie Hancock, Bill Laswell, Bernie Worrell, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Sly and Robbie. In 1998 he recored the album CubAfrica with Cuban artist Eliades Ochoa .
and a song controversy...
After Barbadian pop singer Rihanna sampled the song in her 2007 hit single “Don’t Stop the Music”, she and Jackson were both sued in February 2009 by Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango, who claimed that both songs stole the “mama-say mama-sa ma-ma-coo-sa” hook from his 1972 single “Soul Makossa” without permission.
According to Agence France-Presse, Jackson admitted that he borrowed the line for “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” and settled out of court. When Rihanna asked Jackson in 2007 for permission to sample the line, he allegedly approved the request without contacting Dibango beforehand.
Dibango’s attorneys brought the case before a court in Paris, demanding €500,000 in damages and for Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music to be “barred from receiving ‘mama-say mama-sa’-related income until the matter is resolved”.