Manu Dibango dies from Covid-19

[Optimal Saint]

PARIS [[AP) — Renowned jazz man Manu Dibango, to many the beloved “Papy Groove” who served as an inspiration and pioneer in his art, died on Tuesday with the coronavirus, his official Facebook page announced. He was 86.....

https://apnews.com/b7aca5490656b064bba690eb19a5291e

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aWK_Josc0Og

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jfLpGAx49DY

[marv2]

Oh no. I loved his work. "Soul Makoosa" is a classic. Rest in peace Manu and thank you.

[sansradio]

This is terrible. Young folks, this disease is no respecter of persons. Rest in power, Manu, and thank you.

[Motown Eddie]

So sorry to hear about Manu Dibango. I'll always remember his classic "Soul Makossa". The song was so hot when it first came out in spring 1973 [[in the US) that there was an inferior cover version from a band called Afrique. Rest In Power & Peace, Manu Dibango.

[marv2]

Michael Jackson even used a portion of it for his hit "Wanna Be Starting Something".

[splanky]

Michael Jackson even used a portion of it for his hit "Wanna Be Starting Something".

Ironically Michael's quote of lyrics from the song became a killer hook that also got him
sued by Manu which Mike settled out of court. Anyway, in the least Manu was able to
enjoy a long prolific career and though I loved both his American and uk hits, Soul
and Big Blow respectively, I am still in awe of his 1994 love letter to his continent,
Waka Afrika which featured an array of musicians and singers from there including the
now globally popular Angelique Kidjo and late Congolese legend Papa Wemba. RIP, Manu...Power was surely your sound....

[sansradio]

Ironically Michael's quote of lyrics from the song became a killer hook that also got him
sued by Manu which Mike settled out of court. Anyway, in the least Manu was able to
enjoy a long prolific career and though I loved both his American and uk hits, Soul
and Big Blow respectively, I am still in awe of his 1994 love letter to his continent,
Waka Afrika which featured an array of musicians and singers from there including the
now globally popular Angelique Kidjo and late Congolese legend Papa Wemba. RIP, Manu...Power was surely your sound....

Yes! With the brilliant cover art--his body posed in the shape of Mother Africa! He even had a Madagascar!

[nathanj06]

Soul Makossa! What an amazing piece of work. RIP Mr. DiBango.

[PeaceNHarmony]

Yes, MJ stole from Manu, but it's good to read Splanky's real news. I hope the settlement was what Manu deserved.

[Mark Desjardines]

In fairness to Michael, he is not the only recording artist to sample a riff from Manu Dibango's iconic Soul Makossa. Jennifer Lopez along with countless others have sampled Manu's masterpiece. While all corona virus related deaths are tragic, Manu's demise has made this very real to me. May his music continue to brighten our lives. I have enclosed a link to Jennifer Lopez's official music video fo"Feelin' So Good."
https://youtu.be/VArPPSt5vso

[marv2]

Trump wants to reopen the U.S. economy by Easter. He only is concerned about the economy........not the people.

[Boogiedown]

darn . so sad this has happened. RIP Manu.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zWybdCPAPg

[Boogiedown]

I never understood why SOUL MAKOSSA so often gets cited as one of the earliest 'disco' records, a prototype.... until I paid more attention to :


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lutXQO3GdFo


which topped the earliest of disco charts for five weeks.

[splanky]

The funny thing to me is Soul Makossa was NOT disco and as Manu himself admitted
not even Makossa. I forgot to mentioned earlier that I enjoyed reading his short but
enlightening autobiography from years back; Three Kilos of Coffee. Also regardless of how
Do It charted back in the day B.T. Express didn't consider themselves a "Disco" act
either...But that's an old debate....

[marv2]

The funny thing to me is Soul Makossa was NOT disco and as Manu himself admitted
not even Makossa. I forgot to mentioned earlier that I enjoyed reading his short but
enlightening autobiography from years back; Three Kilos of Coffee. Also regardless of how
Do It charted back in the day B.T. Express didn't consider themselves a "Disco" act
either...But that's an old debate....

You couldn't put a B.T. Express record on and people not getting up to dance. So........... "Here comes the express"! LOL!

[Boogiedown]

The funny thing to me is Soul Makossa was NOT disco and as Manu himself admitted
not even Makossa. I forgot to mentioned earlier that I enjoyed reading his short but
enlightening autobiography from years back; Three Kilos of Coffee. Also regardless of how
Do It charted back in the day B.T. Express didn't consider themselves a "Disco" act
either...But that's an old debate....

In the beginning nobody was trying to be a 'disco' act .....as the genre didn't exist ! :p To be disco, it sort of chose you. If the DJs played you, or more importantly if the dance floor responded favorably to you, you were disco.
While many acts weren't focused on being 'disco' per say [[ ie Diana Ross) they didn't mind courting it . The Ohio Players another example.
On BT Express' second album is a song called DISCOTIZER and here's the "B" side to EXPRESS:
https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/n84AAOSwlwtd4Ed0/s-l225.webp

which identifies itself as a disco version of the song. [[ by Tom Moulton likely)

[Boogiedown]

Besides its dancable and unusal sound , I'm recalling now more of the significance of SOUL MAKOSSA and its role in the entire disco story.

SOUL MAKOSSA was a forgotten foreign import that David Mancuso stumbled upon and began playing at his loft parties where it got popular. This lead to an awareness of the song and it got picked up for airplay on NYC radio stations. This then lead to Atlantic Records seeking out the rights to it and pressing it and it then crossed over into popular play.

This began an entire new awareness of this new avenue for working a record , for creating a hit: through discos. Labels began courting this route and began trying to deliver the sounds the clubs liked and to package their product to appeal to that market [[ instrumental 'b' sides , longer versions as on the EXPRESS 45 for instance)... and disco began morphing into a distinct identity.