Manu Chao

"RADIO BEMBA SOUND SYSTEM"

VÖ: 09.09.2002

On 09/10 September, after three years of touring and over 120 concerts on three continents in front of a million fans, Manu Chao and his group, the Radio Bemba Sound System, will be releasing their first live record. The album, which will be launched in over 30 countries, includes remixed titles from Manu Chao's two solo records, as well as unreleased titles and covers from Mano Negra albums. A DVD featuring the entire tour and unreleased films will come out towards the end of the year.

Biography of "Bienvenida a Tijuana", the first track on Manu Chao's live album: Tijuana, the infamous border town between Mexico and the United States, a place buzzing with seediness and effervescence, is the scene chosen by Manu Chao for the festivities. And with what relish! The result: 29 songs and 70 minutes of relentless rowdiness recorded live at the Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris, on 3 and 4 September 2001.

With Manu Chao, the party is always absolute, immeasurable, and blissful. If you want to keep up with him, you'd better be ready for the long haul. You'll only get a breather at the very end of the night, when everyone's out of breath. Unbridled physical and moral energy: Manu's philosophy of life comes from his father, of Galician origins, and South America, a continent he loves.

Manu Chao, who has always loved singing in bars and in the 'hood - a fundamental aspect of his political values - decided to put together a band to go on tour in 1999. And this is what God sent his way, in Barcelona, Paris and elsewhere: Gambit, the giant tattooed bassist, a longtime companion, with a devil-may-care attitude towards musical rules when he's at the turntable.

Then there's Madgid Fahem, with his raw-boned guitar grinding out notes as pearly as those from a lute, and Andean-like split chords. His riffs are electric and unabashed in true punk rock fashion.

B-Roy is the accordionist, always up for a wild fôrro (wind-and-grind dances from the Northeast of Brazil). Gérard Casajus is percussionist, Antonio Garcia Garreta plays the keyboards, and David Bourguignon mans the drums. They unite as one to sustain the entire sound system. Bidji is the mood-setter, a hip-hop rapper from the French band Assassin. Last but not least, Giany Salazar and Roy Paci make up the brass section, replete with trumpet and trombone.

In the spring of 2000, the troupe - as they say in theater or at the circus - went on tour, starting off in Mexico, with an incredible night concert on the huge Zocalo Square. They reached Tokyo towards the end of July 2002, after a detour at the alternative rock festival in Villagarcia de Arousa, Galicia. Before that, the band held a concert in Genoa on 18 July 2001, two days prior to the death of a young anti-globalization militant caught up in the demonstrations against the G-7. May 2002 was a month of high-tension touring in Eastern Europe. So many political memories... Twenty, thirty times, the tour was almost stopped because Manu and his band also believe in the right to take it easy. But in this healthy struggle between exhaustion and resting, the love of playing always prevailed.

Radio Bemba, a remarkably efficient sound system, quickly regained its energy and was on the road again, since Manu and his pals are never cut off from the world and the electricity it generates. At the Grande Halle de la Villette - mid-tour - the band had matured and not yet lost its brass section. In the spirit of Proxima Estacion...Esperanza, the 29 songs were played consecutively, melded into another following the rules of sampling initiated in Clandestino and perfected in Proxima Estacion...Esperanza.

The sampling of sounds - from the street, radio, fairs, etc. -, of speeches (inevitably those of Zapatista sub-commander Marcos, Manu Chao's No.1 hero), of rhythms is built on the band's instinct and intuition-based philosophy. These fragments of life and music are returned to the street via the stage, stuck together or deconstructed depending on the mood of the moment. Thus is the nature of this album: direct, raw, abrupt and in-your-face.

To produce this record, Manu Chao worked with Renaud Letang, already his partner in Clandestino and Proxima Estacion. With the exception of Nirvana's live album, and before that The Doors and The Who, albums recorded live are usually polished up in studio, with the voices and instruments re-recorded. Manu Chao would not have any of this, especially since he wanted to fit everything onto one disk, so that less wealthy buyers would not have to spend a lot of money. With unaltered sound recordings and crammed to the gills, this live album is very intense, with an authentic sound mixed without restraint or pretension.

And so what do you hear on it? Manu Chao, the rocker, leader of a post-punk band descended straight from Mano Negra - from whom he borrows, with modifications, "Casa Babylon", "King Kong Five", "The Monkey", "Peligro", "Mala Vida" and "Machin Gun".

With his wandering, witty Latin ways, the South American in Manu Chao knows how to rouse the senses (with "Minha Galera") and play on tenderness before erupting into frenzied ska, Mano Negra-style, and wild pogo dancing. Punk rocker perhaps, but also undying admirer of reggae music, its values, its swaying tempo, its heroes - as witnessed by the song "Mr. Bobby". Manu Chao blends everything together as he pleases: his own previously released songs, adding a text here, a rhythm there, inserting an extra whirlwind of electronic sounds ("Radio Bemba") and bits of blurriness. Which brings us to titles such as "Bienvenida A Tijuana" and "La rumba de Barcelona".

By the way, what time is it in Gibraltar? And in Mozambique? Barely time for an answer and the rhythms take off again, like the grand finale of a firework display honoring all the saints of the planet.