What do You Think about Manu Chao
 

So youve got Real Big Fish a lot on here, they are pretty cool, but I reckon Manu Chao are one of the most lively ska bands around, I dont know how big they are in the states but in england they are like a undiscovered treat!! Very big in south America and Spain. Any one heard of them, What do you think?

I wouldn't have really considered manu chao ska, really...

Manu Chao is a solo artist and more Pop music than anything else. He was in a band called Mano Negra who were a little more interesting musically than his solo output.

Saw him at a festival in 2006 and he put on a good enough live show, seemed like a good festival act. I was also a bit stoned which seemed to add to the enjoyment somewhat. I wouldn't really listen to any of his albums as I would probably be disappointed by them or even just bored by them. He's kind of a mixture of a lot of things: pop, rock, world music, hip-hop, ska etc.

I'm also obsessed with Manu Chao. His musics great, he's not put out a bad song solo or in Mano Negra.

I've just walked out of a Manu Chao concert! His live act is like some bizarre ska hooked on manu chao classics rip off! Every single song starts as an up tempo version of the original before suddenly switching into high energy ska that bounced the entire Enmore Theater. Being a bit of an ex-ska boy from several generations ago, I think it wasn't even good ska!

I have his first solo album, Clandestino :-

Actually, the method sounds more interesting than the result: Clandestino is a pleasant but unexceptional album of "Latin Light", enlivened, if that is the word, with bits of recorded tv dialogue, which would`ve been ground-breaking stuff forty years ago.
Manu has a good voice which makes his Spanish lyrics very clear, but King of Bongo , sung in English, sounds like a rather too calculated attempt to produce a chirpy international cross-over hit. If you`ve got tired of playing that Gypsy Kings album you bought after your Mediterranean holiday, Clandestino could be the album for you.

I listened to some Manu Chao ages ago and, while I wasn't completely sold, I thought he was cool enough. I couldn't quite connect with it though and today, I consider him an artist whose cool image is "better" than the music he actually puts out.

Still, an interesting artist and I can see why people fall in love with his music.

Manu Chao, and Mano Negra are all French.

I heard some of his works but didn't found it very appealing.

French are very open minded as Europeans. They hear music from all around the world, but they give me the impression of having a "looking down" attitude.

And that is what I perceive in "Clandestino". Is "academically" interesting as an exploration of a mix of African clues, French, English, a stereotyped image of a Mexican, and other things.

But out of a curiosity, I don't find it very appealing.

Wow! I didn't realise that I could be so snooty about music ten years ago. Since then, I have come to enjoy Manu Chao's Clandestino album. It has some great tracks like Mentira and El Viento, though I would stand by what I said about King of Bongo Bong being a track to avoid.

A thread about an artist should always have at least one "suck it and see" video clip for people to check out, so here is Manu Chao, singing in English & Spanish and surely channelling a bit of JJ Cale:-