944 Manu Chao - Próxima Estación Esperanza (2001)

Studio Album - World Music

About the Act:

Manu Chao is a French-Spanish musician of Spanish descent who grew up on the outskirts of Paris. In the mid-80s he was in a Spanish/English rockabilly group called Hot Pants. In 1987, with his brother and cousin he founded the band Mano Negra, combining punk and world music influences and playing on the Paris Metro. This band took off and had 4 studio albums. In 1995 Manu "went solo", forming the band Radio Bemba Sound System to be his backing band. The punk elements were less prominent, but he started to make music that "replicates the sound of street music and bar scenes from a variety of cultures". He has been really popular in parts of Europe. 

About the Album:

This album was Manu Chao's second studio album as a "solo" artist. In Spanish, the name means "Next Station: Hope", after a real station on the Madrid Metro. The album reached top 10 slots in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, GErmany, Italy, Holland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Words on the album are in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Galician and Portuguese.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

I have a habit, with albums I know little about, to listen to at least most of the album once before I start to dig for information. This way the music can speak for itself before I get context. This album was a complete surprise to me. I thought it was going to be reggae. Now that I have done some research, I know that Manu Chao is from Paris, and that the music is effectively multicultural street music. That kind of makes sense.

Take half a cup of The Gypsy Kings, a bit of Gypsy Brass band from Eastern Europe, add in some Hawaiian ukulele sounds, New Orleans Brass bass, bits of calypso, jazz, and pour a potful of reggae and latin beats in, and mix it up. Add in some dub-style production, loads of sound clips, mostly speech, and... well if you think I'm not doing a very good job of description, you just have a listen yourself and try to describe it. Each track had different elements, and somehow it intelligently draws out the similarities and fuses different traditions together, while managing to be simultaneously electronica and world music. It's a big bucket of crazy things. 

So in some of these reviews I have confessed about my ignorance of some areas of music, particularly Hip Hop, but also Country. World music is something I have more of a history of. I wouldn't say I am by any means an expert, but I know enough to be able to hear the influences at play here. In one sense, the music tends to be quite simple - straightforward and repeated chord sequences. In terms of marrying together different styles and traditions, it is uniquely sophisticated and intelligent. As I listened for the first time I kept grinning, and loving it.

And as I have hinted, this is done with electronica also - the tracks run into each other, there are things like dub bass used, there are lots of spoken word samples, and some of the arrangement sounds like samples are used too, but it's hard to tell. There are several languages at play here both spoken and sung. The lyrics I understood were not earth shattering, but were generally positive, the tale of going on a date to a French Film, warnings about the social consequence of promiscuity, and an entreaty to "Bobby Marley" to sing a good song.

You have already got the idea that I loved it. Well, there is one more aspect to talk about - the album as a whole. This album flows as a kind of ebb and flow between styles and feels and moods, and is a continuum. I mistakenly started my second listen on shuffle, and it became disjointed - it definitely works as a larger work, with repeated themes and development. It's sunny, shiny, full of joy and an absolute delight. 

8.2/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4t1LLdXiWTfoywqricztFo

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnYlLecSt5c

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pr%C3%B3xima_Estaci%C3%B3n:_Esperanza