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Bébé Manga

Born Elisabeth Prudence Manga Bessem

1948–2011

Makossa

About Bébé Manga

Bébé Manga recorded Amie in 1981 and gave Cameroon one of its most covered songs. The Douala-language ballad has been reinterpreted across Africa and the Caribbean many times over, and it made her the best known Cameroonian woman in makossa. She sang in a register closer to soul balladry than to the dance side of the genre. She died in Douala in 2011.