Back in 2000, I gave this CD as a Christmas present to a friend of mine who lives in L.A. He was, to say the least, confused my by gift - we usually share the same taste in music..."Just who is this bum on the front cover?!?".
He had never heard of Manu Chao, of course, and upon his first listening to this CD had hidden "Clandestino" behind others for a while and had totally forgotten about it.
A couple of months ago, he gave me a call. "You know Daniela, everyone lately has gone totally wild over that CD you gave me last year, at least 20 of my new neighbors asked me to borrow it, they've been playing it on the streets here in Echo Park!!
(For those of you who are not familiar with L.A., the Echo Park community is an up-and-coming area in Los Angeles which has become home to many artists and is now an interracial melting pot of trendy, intellectual activists.)
I wasn't surprised at all.
MANU CHAO IS CURRENTLY VIEWED AS A PROPHET IN EUROPE AND SOUTH AMERICA.
He basically is the new millennium's Dylan to millions of politically active beings in half of the world.
What I really am surprised about is that with the WTO disorders in Seattle, with the No Logo, anti-corporate issues growing in strength and importance by the day, Manu Chao and his music are yet virtually unheard of in the U.S.
********
So, WHO IS this Manu Chao guy? And where does he come from?
Back in 1988, French and Spanish musicians formed a group called Mano Negra and released an album under the title "Patchanka" that brought this alternative band to fame in France and Spain. All Mano Negra members had already had previous experiences in different countries worldwide, and with such a vast musical background, their leader and voice Manu Chao, French by father, Spanish by mother, but self-declared citizen of the world, brought together such concepts.
The Mano Negra music is a fusion of South American rythms with punk and hard rock influences, a blend of ska and flamenco, salsa and reggae... Beyond the notion of a band, Mano Negra was a constant experiment. The contents of their lyrics, however, were always strongly motivated, highly political, possibly anarchic, and shone new light on very heartfelt but hardly ever openly discussed topics such as the refugees' cases, difficulties encountered by North African immigrants in integrating in European countries, political mishaps in South America, the life of the indigent, the poor, the homeless.. Very strong, subversive issues discussed with great passion. Such a formula found an enormous following among the lowest social classes throughout Europe, and word soon spread to Third World countries with their fame gradually growing to immense proportions.
Mano Negra was an itinerant band. They constantly traveled across countries in a beaten-up van, singing on the corner of streets, mingling with the locals, always seeking for new inspiration. Their adventures brought them to release a total of 6 more albums: Puta's Fever (1989); King of Bongo and Amerika Perdida (1991); In the Hell of Patchinko (1992); Bande originale du Livre and Casa Babylon (1994). Then suddenly, abruptly, during a cross-country trip in South America, the members of the band decided they had no more left to say to the world, had lost their motive, and went separate ways.
Manu Chao continued with his wanderings across the globe,
a pilgrimage that brought him new material to work on, gathering fragments of sounds, cultural ideals, visual snapshots, that all came together in his first solo album, released in 1998:
******
CLANDESTINO.
..Perdido en el siglo veinte, rumbo al veinte y uno...
This had been forged as an intimate, controversial album that was not conceived for a large public.
Instead, quite shockingly, Clandestino sold over 3 million copies worldwide!
The songs are based upon Mano Negra's concept of discussing political themes and denouncing social, racial and economical scandals. The tracks on this album are - as in Mano Negra's albums as well - sung in three different languages: Spanish, French and English. Manu Chao's solo music has considerably softened, becoming almost mellow and making it more appealing to a wider crowd of listeners. The rythms are mostly influenced by Southern American and Afro-Cuban atmospheres, and are definitely more ear-friendly than the sometimes hard-core, crude rock or punk beat often featured in Mano Negra's works.
The instruments used for the sound Manu Chao creates in this album are the most diverse and seemingly incompatible: ukuleles with synthesizers, bongo drums with electric guitars, maracas, harps, violins, xylophones, gongs... Whatever the instrument is, it's had its part in this album. However, in the final result, the instruments don't clash with one another, but rather harmonize together and help in giving a deeper, fuller impression, an almost visual image of the country or the situation the words of the lyrics deal with.
Rather than being a collection of tracks, Clandestino is one long song; the tracks gradually melt into one another, by progressively changing rythm and refrains.
The complete "tracklist" of Clandestino with related topics and lyrics' language is as follows:
1, 2, 3, 4 (all songs nonstop and closely entwined):
Clandestino (Sp) - illegal immigrants;
Desaparecido (Sp)- life of refugees, (by some also considered an autobigraphy);
Bongo Bong (Eng)- integration problems;
Je ne T'aime Plus (Fr) - the superficiality of today's relationships;
--
5: Mentira..(Sp) - Modern economy and its false ideals;
6: Lagrimas de Oro (Sp) - women segregation and abuse;
7: Mama call (Sp/Eng)- melancholy experienced by immigrants;
8: Luna y Sol (Sp) - again, the lies corporations tell the world;
9: Por el Suelo (Sp) - a clever two-faced interpretation, as it means both "on the streets" and "the poor and disgraceful";
10:Welcome to Tijuana (Sp/Eng) - to the Mexicans crossing the U.S. border;
11:Dia luna..Dia Pena (Sp)
12:Malegria (Sp) and
13:La Vie à 2 (Fr)- what does daily life mean to the poor;
14:Minha Galera (Pt) ( I don't know Portughese, sorry..)
15:La Desperida (Sp)- a lost - love song;
16:El Viento (Sp) - the wind, as luck, comes and goes, as men do searching for better fortune
What's so important about these lyrics?
The words Manu Chao uses to get his point across are fresh and immediate, but are small works of art in the depiction of the uneasiness and the struggling of the less fortunate of this world.
Just an excerpt of the first track of this album:
..Pà una ciudad del norte, yo me fui a trabajar
mi vida va deje entre ceuta e gibraltar
soy una raya en el mar, fantasma en la ciudad
mi visa va prohibida dice la autoridad.
Solo voy con mi pena, sola va mi condena
correr es mi destino por no llevar papel
Perdido en il corazòn de la grande babylon
me dicen el clandestino, yo soy el quiebra ley.
(In a city in the North, I was working at the time, but my went lost in the sea between Ceuta and Gibraltar - i.e. from the Morocco border toward Spain - ; I'm a ray of sunlight in the sea, a ghost in the city, my visa must be denied, so the authorities say. Alone I go with my sorrow, my condemnation lies alone, to run is my destiny since I couldn't get the papers, lost in the heart of this great babylon, they called me the clandestine, I'm an outlaw)
how many people do you think can relate to these words?
All of the lyrics are harsh, gloomy descriptions of modern world's contradictions and unfairnesses, ranging from the persecuted to the adventures of the Mexican crossing the U.S. border, from the mistreatment of women in African and Arabic cultures, to the secrets and scandals the great and powerful corporations mask and cover up daily in the sake of a brand name. He speaks up - and he does so with clear statements, brilliant words and music. You'll be caught off-guard when you start humming his songs, so easily picked up by everyone... You just can't get them out of your head.
Rightly so, then, the WTO activists in Europe have currently elected his songs as their hymns during the disorders that have occurred during these past two years.
*****
But MUST HE BE ALSO ELECTED AS SPOKESPERSON?
I've always thoroughly enjoyed listening to all of Manu Chao's albums, from the first Patchanka Mano Negra album. I personally own all of them and strongly believe they shouldn't miss in anyone's music collection. They truly are thoughtful, incisive insights of our current world.
However, he is not a politician. He is not a martyr. All of his records are released by Virgin. He gets paid by a multinational company each time one of his albums are sold, and has clearly stated he's made an enormous amount of money on it. How antiglobal is that? Receiving a fat check from Virgin every month?
He himself has said he doesn't want to be an active part in the war against the G8. And since his astounding popularity, he's released another album (Proxima Stacion: Esperanza) which is, honestly, a carbon copy of Clandestino, and he acknowledges it hinself as well during his interviews.
I just can't picture a popular songwriter, as great as he may be, as the political reference for hordes of antiglobal activists. I can't imagine a musician speaking up for millions of people and being listened to. I don't think he could make a statement with the powerful men that are sitting around those oval tables...
This of course doesn't detract anything as far as his music is concerned. For Manu Chao is and always has been the perfect storyteller for today's major issues, and has done his job beautifully in his solo debut album.
Want to learn more about Manu Chao and Mano Negra?
You can find complete biographies, discography and detailed information on this artist at the following websites:
www.manuchaousa.com/
www.angelfire.com/ma/manonegra/
www.geocities.com/manuchaoweb/ (spanish)
The official homepage is
www.manuchao.net
A recent interview of The Village Voice is published at
www.villagevoice.com/issues/0127/lavin.php
Thank you for reading and enjoy life, whatever you're up to!
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