Manu Dibango – “Soul Makossa” / “Lily” German and Belgian single sleeves

Manu Dibango was a Cameroonian saxophonist possibly best known for side-A of this single. “Soul Makossa” was an unlikely international hit as it was written in Duala, a native dialect continuum from Cameroon and has been heavily sampled. The song is most famous for its vocal refrain “ma-ma-se, ma-ma-sa, ma-ma-ko-sa”. Dibango died of COVID-19 on 24 March 2020.

The German single shown above uses Poell, a rather obscure display face designed by Erwin Poell for Berthold Fototypes in 1972. Tuba (Canada Type, 2010) is a loose revival. Poell also provided the inspiration for Crack (Out of the Dark, 2011).

The Belgian version depicted below pairs Marvin (Face) with bold italic caps from Times New Roman.