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| Photo by Philippe Jimene |
These whimsical opening lyrics to Manu Chao’s “Bongo Bong”
song are set to music borrowed from the old Black Uhuru song, “Anthem.” I love
it, along with other Chao songs. This song is one of the exceptions, but Chao sings mostly
in French and Spanish. And while my understanding of those languages is
limited, Chao’s music speaks to me, even when I don’t know what exactly he’s
crooning about. It’s the music I crave on lazy, rainy days, occasionally as
background music when I’m writing or generally chilling out.
Manu Chao was born in Paris in the early 1960s to Basque
and Galician (Spanish) parents. He’s both
a singer and songwriter, creating music that is punk, hip hop, ska, reggae, alternative,
rock, pop, jazz, you name it. He infuses Latin salsa and flamenco, Algerian rai, French chanson, and Caribbean and African beats into his music. And he
sings in a variety of languages – Basque, Galician, Spanish, French, English,
Portuguese, Arabic, and Wolof (an African language spoken widely in Senegal). This
amalgam of languages and genres gives him a distinctive sound that you won’t
hear elsewhere. Sometimes he’s moody and mellow, other times cheerful and dancey, sometimes
light hearted, and at other times political and serious. If it sounds
like everything but the kitchen sink, give it a listen. (I’ve included links to
some of my favorites at the end of this post.) His music offers something for
everyone. He hasn’t made much traction in the English-speaking market, but his
songs are well known in Europe and South America, many of them reaching the top
10 in France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and much of South
America.
Chao started several bands with his brother and friends
in the early to mid-80s that were received well and popular in Paris,
but these bands didn’t take off in a big way. Then, in 1987, he, his brother,
and a cousin formed Mano Negra, which may have been named after an anarchist
group in Spain. On tour in South America, they performed out of a retired
train. This band did well but eventually disbanded.
In 1995, Chao formed a new group, Radio Bemba Sound
System, which gets its name from the communication system Cuban revolutionaries used. With this group, Chao really found his groove. He
released albums both completely in Spanish and in French, including different
styles of music on each. His Clandestino
album includes bands from diverse backgrounds, such as Mexico’s Tijuana No!,
Brazil’s Skank, and Argentina’s Todos Las Muertos, in the hopes of recreating
the sounds from street music and the bar scene from those cultures. Chao injects
political messages into some of his music, riffing on themes of immigration,
ghettos, social and political issues, immigration, and injustice.
Punk and reggae historian, Vivien Goldman, writes that
Chao is “one of the punkiest artists out there that I can think of.” And yet,
his “inclusionary” style, as Goldman calls it, has helped propel Chao into one
of the most successful distinctive sounds. Clandestino, for instance, won Best World Music Album in 1999 from
France’s Victoires de la Musique awards.
And he branches out. The blind married couple from Mali,
known as Amadou & Mariam, are also trailblazers in the Africas, blending
Cuban, Syrian, Indian, and Dogon musical styles into their own popular music.
Chao produced the couple’s 2004 album, Dimanche
à Bamako. He also wrote a song, “Me llaman Calle,” for the 2005 Spanish
film, Princesas, and won a Goya
nomination for Best Original Song. Time
magazine later named it one of the 10 Best Songs of 2007 (when Chao included it
on an album he released that year), ranking it number 8.
Watch and listen to a few of his best-known songs:
Bongo Bang and Je Ne T'aime Plus
La Trampa, with Tonino Carotone (of Maldonado from Argentina)
Enjoy!
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