Dibango is Cameroon's, and perhaps Africa's, best-known jazz saxophonist. Starting in the 1950s, he became a globe-trotting musician, living and performing in France, Belgium, Jamaica, Zaire, and Cote d'Ivoire, as well as in Cameroon. In 1960, Dibango was one of the founding members of the Zairean band African Jazz, with whom he spent five years. World attention came to Dibango with the release in 1972 of Soul Makossa, a work that actually had precious little of the makossa sound in it, and scored later hits with Seventies and Ibida. Dibango's output has been prodigious and multi-faceted. He has worked with musicians as diverse as Fela Kuti<.a> and Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, Don Cherry and the Fania All-Stars. In addition to being one of the leading jazz saxophonists of his generation, Dibango has also run nightclubs, directed orchestras, and started one of the first African musical journals.
No review of a Manu Dibango album is complete without the now clichéd reference to "Soul Makossa." Dibango fused jazz and African rhythms, with his funky saxophone to produce a single that launched his career worldwide. The record climbed global charts, including American popular music-in 1973 no less-serving as another milestone for African music. To some "Soul Makossa" defined the concept of world music.