Dal sito di Manu Chao, un articolo del Guardian sul Clandestino. Dei 10 punti, riporto i 5 che mi sono piaciuti di piu':2) He crosses boundaries of race and class. The only other world-music album to have sold more than Chao's is Buena Vista Social Club. But, whereas that album's main appeal was to middle-class Europeans and Japanese, Chao's audience spans the social spectrum. He's the first artist since Bob Marley (who he reveres as his "professor in simplicity") to be a real pop star of the people - to have global reach.
3) He has revived the art of rebellious protest pop. Most pop stars who become politically engaged (from Sting to Tom Robinson) end up seeming worthy and dull, or else, like Bono and Bob Geldof, compromised by their hob-nobbing with politicians. But whether Chao is singing about the plight of immigrants on Clandestino, or Madrid prostitutes on Me Llaman Calle, or Baghdad on his superb new album La Radiolina, his humanity and lack of cynicism shine through. And they are all great, danceable tunes. It's political pop that is also a fiesta.
4) He has arranged some of the zaniest tours in pop history. One involved going by boat round all the ports of South America, but the most extreme was when he hired a train to tour war-torn Colombia in 1992, filling it with a rag-tag group of circus artists, punks and hippies, playing to peasants, guerrillas and narcotrafficantes. The tour split his punky, Clash-influenced band Manu Negra. His father, the journalist Ramon Chao, came along and wrote a book about the trip, Un Train de Glace et de Feu.
6) He doesn't play the industry game. Chao never toured to promote Clandestino. Music-biz types told him he should tour the US, but he decided to concentrate on South America. When he does play big shows he will often arrange smaller, unpublicised concerts to striking dockers, in prisons, or just in small bars. He never plans more than three months ahead, and turns down most interviews and all advertising work. He still busks regularly in the streets of Barcelona.
9) He has a streak of lunacy. Chao can do silly as well as political: his biggest hit, Bongo Bong, is a ditty about a bongo-playing monkey. After Manu Negra broke up, he found himself depressed and suicidal in Rio. A cow walked into the bar he was drinking in, and he says he was "saved by the tranquillity of the cow's eyes". His tour jacket has pictures of cow's eyes on it, and he says he understands why they worship cows in India, where he hopes to tour soon.
Versione completa dell'articolo:
http://www.manuchao.net/news/telegraph_co_uk/index.php
