Three Kilos of Coffee: An Autobiography - Hardcover

Dibango, Manu; Rouard, Danielle

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226144917 ISBN 13: 9780226144917

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1994

Synopsis

In 1948, at the age of fifteen, Manu Dibango left Africa for France, bearing three kilos of coffee for his adopted family and little else. This book chronicles Manu Dibango's remarkable rise from his birth in Douala, Cameroon, to his worldwide success—with Soul Makossa in 1972—as the first African musician ever to record a top 40s hit.

Composer, producer, performer, film score writer and humanitarian for the poor, Manu Dibango defines the "African sound" of modern world music. He has worked with and influenced such artists as Art Blakey, Don Cherry, Herbie Hancock, Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon, and Johnny Clegg. In Africa, he has helped younger musicians, performed benefit concerts, and transcribed for the first time the scores and lyrics of African musicians.

The product of a "mixed marriage" (of different tribes and religions) who owes allegiances to both Africa and Europe, Dibango has always been aware of the ambiguities of his identity. This awareness has informed all of the important events of his life, from his marriage to a white Frenchwoman in 1957, to his creation of an "Afro-music" which joyfully blends blues, jazz, reggae, traditional European and African serenades, highlife, Caribbean and Arabic music. This music addresses the meaning of "Africanness" and what it means to be a Black artist and citizen of the world.

This lively and thoughtful memoir is based on an extensive set of interviews in 1989 with French journalist Danielle Rouard. Richly illustrated with photographs, this book will be a must for readers of jazz biographies, students of African music and ethnomusicology, and all those who are lovers of Manu Dibango's unique artistry and accomplishments.

About this title

About the Authors

Born in Cameroon, Manu Dibango (1933–2020) was a trailblazing saxophonist who long lived in Paris with his family.

Danielle Rouard is a journalist who has written for Le Monde.

From the Back Cover

The French publisher had given me carte blanche; with some ignorance, I chose to write Manu Dibango's biography in the first person. Much later, when the book can out Manu commented, 'When we worked on that book, it was like Danielle raped me.' Over months of collaboration, 'I' became a reflected image, a hybrid creature. A plump little whit journalist relived the life of a great saxophonist and composer in the avant garde of world music, who she'd never met before. She saw with the eyes of an African, heard with his long ears, laughed and suffered with his heart of a black man.

Reviews

In the early 1970s, Dibango brought international attention to African music with his hit, "Soul Makossa." He remains an active composer, performer, and bandleader, and this autobiography proves him an impressive storyteller. Born in Cameroon to parents of different, not entirely amicable tribes, he was a teenager just after World War II when his father sent him to be educated in France with three kilos of coffee to pay his tuition. He began playing the saxophone with other African musicians and achieved stardom after a series of adventures and struggles. He loads his book with poignant observations on early modern jazz, the international music business, and African politics. On the last subject, he risks raising the ire of many with such remarks as this denunciation of foreign aid: "Africa waits for rich countries to erase its debt. This is a cheat of a remedy: the people and their successive governments tell themselves it will always be this way." Recommended to those who want to delve deeply into what is too often lazily categorized as "world music." Aaron Cohen

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226144917
• ISBN 13: 9780226144917
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 158