Wewantsounds presents Dibango 82, an unreleased live recording by Manu Dibango taped in Marseille, December 1982. The electrifying live concert features the African legend alongside his stellar eight-piece group, blending funk, jazz, and African rhythms. Highlights include "Africa Boogie" and "Waka Juju." This album, released in partnership with INA and Soul Makossa, Dibango's label, captures the African legend at the top of his game. Remastered from the original tapes with liner notes by Graeme Ewens and concert organizer Christian Ducasse, it features a front cover photo by key African Paris-based photographer Bill Akwa Bétotè. Manu Dibango, who passed away in 2020 at 86, is one of the most celebrated African musicians alongside Fela, Miriam Makeba, and Youssou N'dour. In a career spanning six decades, Dibango revolutionized African music and had a worldwide hit in the process in the form "Soul Makossa" in 1972. This live album, recorded during a French tour in 1982 came at a critical time when France, after the election of Francois Mitterrand, was embracing its multi-ethnic sensitivity. Through the rise of FM radios such as Radio Nova, an offshoot of cult magazine Actuel, the French music scene suddenly got much more opened. The "Sono Mondiale" as Nova would call World music, was born. Organized by French producer Martin Meissonnier, the sold-out tour created a stir in France bringing together two legends, Manu Dibango and his group plus iconic jazz traveler Don Cherry, whom Meissonnier had closely worked with in the late '70s. Captured on December 22, 1982, at the Théâtre La Criée in Marseille, Dibango 82 delivers an electrifying concert of African rhythms, jazz, and funk mastery, with a pinch of Latin music, led by Dibango accompanied by a stellar ensemble of musicians: Congolese guitarist Jerry "Bokilo" Malekani, drummer Brice Wassy, percussionist Valery Lobe, three of his most trusted partners, together with Jean-Pierre Coco on percussion, Hary Gofin on bass, pianist Del Rabenja from Madagascar and two superb background singers, Florence 'Titty' Dimbeng and Sissy Dipoko. The audio from the French INA archives has been remastered from master tapes and the album's liner notes are augmented by an introduction from French photographer Christian Ducasse who organized the concert. Last but not least the front cover features a superb shot by cult Paris-based Bill Akwa Bétotè who documented the Paris '80s African music scene making Dibango 82 an event for all Manu Dibango and African music fans.
