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Manu Chao - singer, songwriter, musician and globetrotter extraordinaire - has divided his career between his two major passions in life: music and travelling. Manu, who rose to fame as lead singer of the anarchic genre-bending band Mano Negra, has gone on to launch a successful solo career, returning to his Latin roots and working on more reflective, personal material.
Manu Chao was born in Paris on 21 June 1961. His parents, both of whom came from Spain, moved to the suburbs shortly after his birth so Manu spent his childhood growing up in Boulogne-Billancourt, then in Sèvres. Manu's father, Ramon, was a journalist but young Manu spent most of his free time hanging out playing football with the sons of workers from the Renault car factory (which was close to the family home). Manu was also a passionate music fan and when he was not playing football he was to be found sitting in front of the radio or the family record-player, listening to Chuck Berry or songs from the Spanish revolution. (His musical tastes have remained extremely eclectic to this day).
In his teenage years Manu discovered the UK rock scene via the Clash, a group which was to have a strong influence on his own early career. In 1985 Manu went on to form his own group, les Hot Pants, who played their own inventive mix of rockabilly and rhythm'n'blues. By the mid-80's the alternative French rock scene had begun to thrive, throwing up a new generation of 'indie' groups such as les Beruriers Noirs and les Garçons Bouchers. Countless new bands were soon performing on the alternative rock circuit, playing gigs in bars, squats and disused factories to an audience of teenage fans eager to get away from the musical mainstream. Manu Chao also began to thrive on this new alternative circuit, performing with an indie rock outfit known as Los Carayos.
In 1987 Manu went on to form la Mano Negra, a multi-racial genre-bending group who were to have a seminal influence on the alternative French rock scene. La Mano Negra exploded onto the forefront of the music scene in June 1988 with a highly original debut album entitled "Patchanka". Over the next few years the group acquired international acclaim for their innovative albums and their explosive live shows, building up a strong following of fans worldwide. Then in 1995 la Mano Negra story came to an end when the ten members of the group finally decided to go their separate ways.
After the split Manu decided to go back to his Spanish roots, heading off to Madrid for two years. Shortly after arriving in the Spanish capital Manu began hanging out with a bunch of local musicians and soon went on to form a new group, Radio Bemba, with whom he began touring almost immediately. Manu also spent several months travelling around South America (a place he was already highly familiar with as la Mano Negra had toured there extensively).
After enjoying music as a collective group experience for so many years Manu was beginning to envisage a new musical approach. He came up with the idea of performing as a solo singer but collaborating with musicians from widely diverse backgrounds such as the group Tijuanano (from Mexico), Skank (from Brazil) and Todos Tus Muertos (Argentina). Turning away from the alternative rock sound he had developed with La Mano Negra, Manu began to seek new inspiration in street culture and the music he heard on the local bar scene.
Clandestino
This inspiration would soon lead to him setting to work on a new album - his debut solo effort entitled "Clandestino". "Clandestino" was a highly personal album recorded with a tiny portable studio which Manu carried everywhere with him, keeping a kind of musical 'diary' of his travels. Mixing computer sound effects and street sounds with simple acoustic guitar, Manu created an album which had a strong Latino 'roots' feel. The fact that most of the lyrics on Manu's new album were written in Spanish also added to the strong Latino ambience on "Clandestino".
Manu's album was far from being an upbeat dance-oriented affair, however. On tracks such as "Clandestino" fans would discover Manu Chao in sombre disillusioned mode, singing lyrics such as "Solo, voy con mi pena" (I walk alone, carrying my burden of pain). One of the two French songs on the album was entitled "Je ne t'aime plus" (I Don't Love You Any More) and the album also featured a moody Spanish song called "Malegria" (Painjoy).
"Clandestino", which was released in April 98, did not rocket straight to the top of the charts but enjoyed slow, steady success. By the end of the year, however, Manu's solo album not only ended up being one of the top-selling albums in France but also one of the best-selling French albums abroad. Given this overwhelming success, it came as no surprise to anyone when Manu Chao triumphed at the 'Victoires de la Musique' awards in February 99, carrying off the award for Best Album of the Year in the World Music/Traditional Music category.
Throughout his career Manu has been closely involved with a number of local community projects both in France and abroad. He is an active member of 'La Caravane des Quartiers' (an association created in 1989 which organises concerts and festivals on council estates and in deprived areas). Manu has been involved with 'La Caravane des Quartiers' since his Mano Negra days and he recently took projects to Spain.
Double Whammy
Ever since the phenomenal success of Chao's first solo album, "Clandestino", fans had been eagerly awaiting the release of a follow-up. Throughout 2000 the singer's record company made tantalising announcements about a forthcoming album, but the long-awaited sequel to "Clandestino" did not appear until June 5th 2001.
This time round Chao embarked on a major European tour to promote his second album, "Esperanza: proxima estacion". Needless to say, the tour and the album caused a veritable stir in the European media. Although "Esperanza: proxima estacion" sounded remarkably similar to "Clandestino" – featuring the same musical and linguistic fusion and a predominantly Hispanic feel, not to mention a cover of the Mano Negra hit "King of Bongo" – Chao's second album went rocketing up the charts within a few weeks of its release.
By this time "Clandestino" had established itself as one of the best-selling albums in French music history, clocking up sales of 2.5 million (1 million of which were accounted for in France alone!) "Esperanza" went on to score a double whammy for Chao, selling over 300,000 copies within a month of its release and remaining at the no.1 spot in Europe's Top 100 Albums for several weeks on end.
In spite of this phenomenal commercial success, Chao remained true to his militant anti-establishment principles and, just as he had done throughout his time with La Mano Negra, he continued to mix music and politics. On June 21st the singer headed off to Milan to play an anti-globalisation gig against the G8 summit (due to be held in Italy later that summer).
Meanwhile, Chao – who had made only rare appearances outside the Spanish-speaking world since the release of "Clandestino" – threw himself into a major tour. There was no mistaking the singer's popularity in Paris, where he played two sell-out concerts at La Cigale (on June 7th and 8th), before heading off to greet enthusiastic fans in Italy, Germany, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands. Manu Chao also appeared at several major music festivals over the course of summer 2001, bringing the house down at "Les Vieilles Charrues" in Brittany, Roskilde in Denmark, Wiesen in Austria and the Nyon Music Festival in Switzerland. Chao also flew off across the Atlantic to perform at the Montreal Jazz Festival (3rd and 4th July), the Quebec Summer Festival (5th July) and the Summerstage Festival in New York (July 7th).
Only seven months after it had been released, the album had already reached the 2 million mark. Manu Chao’s career had undoubtedly taken off internationally, and, in September 2001, the artist’s picture was to be seen on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. What’s more, later in December, Rolling Stones elected "Proxima estacion esperanza" as one of the 10 best albums of the year between Bob Dylan’s and Björk’s.
Radio Bemba's tour
While continuing his tour around the world with stopovers in Macedonia, Japan, and Galicia, Manu still took the time to release a live album in 2002. Entitled "Radio Bemba Sound System", the album had been recorded the year before during a concert at the Villette in Paris. Paying a tribute to Radio Bemba, Manu’s short-lived band, this album offered a faithful reflection of the general atmosphere during the tour. It actually mirrored more the spirit of Manu’s former band, La Mano Negra, than of his two solo records, since it largely drew from the band’s now classic repertoire.
Back in Barcelona after such a long tour, the artist took some time off to prepare his album to come.
In February 2003, Manu gave a series of gigs in Spain where he was accompanied by Spanish singer Firmin Muguruza. During the Summer, he hit the road again with his band and headed for Volterra in Tuscany, where he played at the prison on August 7th. He then took part in the anti-mondial movement at Larzac on August 10th 2003 and in the Nuits du Mondial (an activist concert given on the occasion of the Athletics World Championship) in the Parisian suburbs on the 22th.
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As an offspring of the French alternative scene, Manu Chao has remained faithful to his first ideals, regardless of the huge success he has met as a solo artist. Shunning the ‘star system’, the anti-globalisation activist does not hesitate to mix politics with music, drawing his inspiration from his Spanish origins and his relentless globetrotting.
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