MANU DIBANGO: A MUSICAL SUMMIT AT THE HEART OF FORCENE FORGIVING

​On December 12, 1933 in Douala, Emmanuel N’Djoke Dibango, known as Manu Dibango, was born. ​He had an extraordinary musical career.

Rarely ill, he was nevertheless interned at the beginning of March in a hospital in Melun in France.

​ He was first diagnosed with meningitis which the hospital prepared to treat. Then came the COVID 19 phase. He finally died on March 24, 2020, at the age of 86.

Stunned, the Cameroonians suffered this news in a very embarrassing way, especially since the artist performed concert after concert, and had never shown any particular health problem. At this time when the global COVID 19 pandemic is fully rife, he was hastily buried a few days later in the Parisian Père Lachaise cemetery. He is accompanied to his final resting place in the company of a few hand-picked members of his family.

His fans, scattered across the world, pay him a well-deserved tribute. Most of the time, these are virtual testimonies, instead of the large gatherings that the artist was fond of, through often giant concerts. These large gatherings, it should be remembered, have marked the entire career of this musical goldsmith. Manu Dibango dies, leaving thousands of fans around the world grieving.

His admirers. Cameroon, the country which saw him born, are taken aback, all the more so since he carried the national torch high, through the legendary global hit which came from the depths of his inspiration: “Soul Makossa”. Likewise, his numerous albums distilled, through his numerous and varied audiences, a feeling of well-being, of accomplishment, sometimes of tenderness. His musical sounds were always surrounded by ease, a feeling of bliss, and, sometimes, bliss. Not even the global star Michael Jackon plagiarized it.

​Manu Dibang therefore dies, in these troubled circumstances. His fans from his native country are filled with bitterness and resentment, especially since the artist did not receive, for obvious reasons, a funeral worthy of his rank. It was believed that this bitterness would be alleviated once the stupor of the pandemic passed. One and the other. rightly thought that the public authorities would pay a vibrant tribute to this indomitable lion of the saxophone, who never denied his origins. During his lifetime, Manu Dibango did everything to offer his country a certain brilliance in the concert of nations.

It was a poor understanding of the local authorities, who do not have any scruples when it comes to a category of citizens, as soon as they suddenly ignore them. This concern for ostracization, this dirimante omerta, this desire to formalize amnesia, cannot create a collective unconscious. Fans of the artist, as well as Cameroonians of all stripes, are still waiting for an official funeral of this talented artist to be decreed so that music lovers and all Cameroonians can pay him a deserved tribute.

By such an act, the public authorities would then demonstrate that Cameroonians who excel can be recognized for their true value, beyond the vicissitudes of life, and thus, thumb their noses at the blows of fate.

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