Manu Dibango, Afrijazzy

I bought this album on vinyl on its release back in ’87. I’m thinking I picked up on it from the thumbnails of Celluloid albums on the inner sleeve on maybe a Material album. Not sure how else I would have done so, given that I’ve only fairly recently dived into non-Western (also called World or Global) music in anything like a concerted way. Anyway, I’m listening to Afrijazzy after a lot of patient slsk searching. It’s a Bill Laswell production and an excellent one at that with a cast of seemingly thousands:

Michel Alibo Bass
Poussy Bille Vocals (bckgr)
Justin Bowen Clavier
Bootsy Collins Bass, Guitar
D. St. Turntables
Manu Dibango Percussion, Piano, Arranger, Keyboards, Saxophone, Sax (Baritone), Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor), Vocals, Producer, DX-7
N’Dedy Dibango Vocals (bckgr)
Charly Djenge Vocals (bckgr)
Adama Drame Percussion
Sly Dunbar Drums
Sissi Catherine Elolongue Vocals (bckgr)
Florence Gnimagnon Vocals (bckgr)
Grandmixer D.ST Turntables
Herbie Hancock Piano
Stephane Joly Clavier
Michael Knuth Production Coordination
Bill Laswell Producer
Ray Lema Clavier
Guy Lobe Vocals (bckgr)
Valery Lobe Drums
Didier Lockwood Violin
Jerry Bokilo Malekani Guitar
Jean-Karl Dikoto Mandengue Vocals (bckgr)
Hugh Masekela Trumpet, Bugle
Bernard Matussiere Photography
Francis Mbappe Bass, Vocals (bckgr)
Bob Musso Engineer, Mixing
Sango Gabriel Nahas Balance Engineer
Vincent Nguini Guitar
Paul Personne Guitar
Daniel Ponce Bells, Bata
Peter Tholo Segona Trumpet
Paco Sery Percussion, Drums
Robbie Shakespeare Bass
Nicky Skopelitis Programming, Fairlight
Pete Sturge Assistant Engineer
Howie Weinberg Mastering
Bernie Worrell Synthesizer
Brice Wouassi Drums

Bootsy, D. St., Sly and Robbie, Skopelitis, Bernie Worrel, Herbie – in other words a lot of the usual suspects, but the production is a really lovely dovetailing of advanced – at that time – technology and Manu’s regular band. Particularly notable are the syndrums, the harsh guitar and the brilliant vocoder on the ’87 update of Dibango’s signature Soul Makossa, but none of it drowns out the leader’s hymning of his subjects (Gombo Sauce, Soir au Village, Douala Serenade). Soir Au Village in particular is a showcase for Manu Dibango’s rich, deep vocal more than it does his sax. Makossa ’87 is almost 17 minutes long and doesn’t outstay its welcome by a second. In some of its tropes – D St.’s scratching, Herbie’s squiggles, the synthetic percussion, it’s not a million miles from Hancock’s Rockit, a key Laswell production.