Manu Chao

Manu Chao (July 21, 1963-) is a French latin folk singer.

Chao's parents were Spanish, but moved to Paris to escape Francisco Franco's fascist regime. He was brought up in Paris, and now lives in Brazil. Since 1987 until 1998 Chao was a member of Mano Negra[?] band. He sings in French, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese and English, often mixing them in the same song. Although he's one of the world's biggest selling artists, he is not well-known in the English-speaking world.

His music has lots of influences: Rock[?], French chanson[?], Spanish-American salsa, Algerian rai. He gathered them from the immigrants to France and his travels on Iberoamerica[?].

His lyrics are about love, living in ghettos, immigration. He has lots of followers among the European left[?] and the antiglobalization[?] movement, though some resent his being part of the music establishment[?].

Discography

• Clandestino, 1998
• Me gustas tú, SP, 2001
• Proxima estación esperanza, 2001
• Merry Blues, SP, 2001
• Mr Bobby, SP, 2002
• Radio Bemba Sound System, 2002

External link

• http://www.manuchao.net/ - official homepage