Back catalogue:

Review: Manu Dibango's grooves will never dull with time. The Cameroonian sax man made some of the most infectious, feel-good funk to ever transmit from the African continent, and here's one of his heavy-hitting high-watermarks, reissued by Soul Makossa. African Voodoo originally came out in 1972, a year that saw nearly all Dibango's most revered jams cut loose on an unsuspecting public. These sessions were recorded in France with Yvan Julien on trumpet, Slim Pezin on guitar, Jacques Bolgnesi on trombone and Lucien Dobat on drums to name but a part of the line-up, but of course it's Dibango holding court on the vibes, marimba, sax and organ who brings the unmistakable magic to the music.

Review: Manu Dibango knew how to work a crowd. By the time he hit the stage at Marseille's Theatre La Criee in December 1982, he had long mastered the art of turning a gig into a full-blown celebration. This was the man who took makossa global, who made 'Soul Makossa' an international sensation a decade prior and who could pivot between jazz, funk and African rhythms like it was nothing. The recording, unearthed from the INA archives, captures him in peak form, leading an eight-piece band through a set that refuses to sit still. 'Africa Boogie' is all clipped guitars, tight horns and a bassline that struts like it owns the place. 'Ashiko Oumba' turns the groove alluringly, locking into intricate polyrhythms before erupting into pure brass-fuelled joy. Then there's 'Waka Juju', sprawling across three parts, moving from simmering tension to full-throttle release with the kind of control only Dibango could pull off. He's conducting, shaping the music in real-time, every solo a conversation, every break a setup for the next explosion of sound. Four decades later, the set still feels alive. It's there in the call-and-response with the crowd, the sweat-soaked momentum of a band that knows it's on fire. Dibango, effortlessly cool at the centre of it all, proves once again why his music never ages.