1960s – 2020sPeak: 1980s
Makossa
About Makossa
Makossa grew out of the Douala coast in the late 1960s, built on a driving bass line, horn arrangements and singing in Duala. Manu Dibango's Soul Makossa carried it to New York clubs in 1972 and it went on to shape a generation of Cameroonian records. The 1980s brought synthesisers and lighter offshoots such as Sam Fan Thomas's makassi, which travelled across francophone Africa and the Antilles.