Flashmag Digizine Edition Issue 104 April 2020 | Page 34

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Flashmag April 2020 www.flashmag.net

Manu Dibango lived in Champigny-sur-Marne, on the outskirts of Paris, for about twenty years. But remained Sarthois at heart were he was ennobled, just like in Ivory Coast where he was made a Nobility in 2018 by several traditional chiefs. In Cameroon, he was made dignitary of the Ngondo made a society of guardians of the tradition of the Sawa peoples.

Manu Dibango died on March 24, 2020 in Melun hospital, six days after being hospitalized, from a Covid-19 Coronavirus infection.

Manu Dibango had two sons, Michel, and James (artist and musician known as James BKS biological son) and two daughters, Marva and Georgia. Coco his longtime wife passed away in 1995.

Manu Dibango was laid to rest in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris on March 27, 2020.

Emmanuel Macron the French president summed up well what Manu Dibango represented, by affirming "He laughed at the borders to create a universal music, which was at the same time African and Caribbean, American and European, but which was above all swaying, catchy and joyful … He knew how to be heard to celebrate independence, to denounce racism and apartheid, and to celebrate this Africa of which he was one of the best-known sons ".

Hubert Marlin

Journalist