MANU CHAO NOMINATED FOR TWO LATIN GRAMMYS
Category: Music
Following a Latin Grammy win for the “Me Llaman Calle” single, Manu Chao's most recent LP ‘La Radiolina' has two more Latin Grammy nominations to add to the books. ‘La Radiolina' has been nominated in the Best Alternative Music Album category and the “Me Llaman Calle” video has been nominated in the Best Short Form Music Video category. The late 2007 studio release has also recently been declared Latin Gold by the RIAA. This exciting news follows a highly-successful year of sold out shows across the world and year-end critical acclaim in countless major media outlets including Time Magazine, Spin Magazine, The New Yorker, and the Los Angeles Times.
The global star recently completed a short but explosive North American tour, with highly-successful shows at the Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco and the Bullring by the Sea in Tijuana. The “La Vida Tombola” tour returns to North America in several weeks with shows at Stubbs BBQ in Austin on September 25th and the Austin City Limits Music Festival on September 26th.
Manu Chao's new ‘Politik Kills' EP features a reggae remix collection of the ‘La Radiolina' album track by artists like Prince Fatty, icons Linton Kwesi Johnson and Dennis Bovell and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell. Fans can visit the new website, www.PolitiKills.com, to preview tracks from the remix EP as well as online-exclusive remixes. Fans and DJs can also access PolitiKills.com to download the different parts of the song and create their own remix. Finally, the site includes commentary from social leaders, writers, artists and more; all in the name of reflecting on the misuse and abuse of power plaguing the world.
CD/Vinyl edition of Politik Kills EP now available in U.S.
We wanted to let Manu Chao fans in the US know that the new 'Politik Kills' EP is available today in stores in both CD and vinyl editions (the album is also digitally available at all online stores). On the new EP, Manu gets the dub/reggae treatment from Prince Fatty, Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, UK icons Linton Kwesi Johnson & Dennis Bovell and others.
The new Politik Kills EP is available at Amazon, FYE, Amoeba, Rasputins, Newbury Comics, Easy Street, Waterloo, Lou's, Melody, Electric Fetus and lots more cool indie stores across the country and in Puerto Rico.
Manu Chao will be performing a few US dates later this summer: the Outside Lands Music Festival on August 22nd in San Francisco and the Austin City Limits Music Festival on September 26th in Austin,Texas.
After more than thirty years stranded in one of the most inhospitable areas of desert on earth, refugees from Western Sahara are using the arts to highlight their plight. Peter Culshaw met Manu Chao and Javier Bardem at the Sahara Film Festival.
Manu Chao's new "Politik Kills" remix EP is now available at your favorite digital outlet (iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, Zune, Amazon, etc). It features a collection of reggae remixes from a variety of legends including UK icons Dennis Bovell and Lincoln Kwesi-Johnson as well as Island Records founder Chris Blackwell. You can pick it up at iTunes here . A physical version of the EP will be available in CD and vinyl format at your favorite music store on June 3rd.
We also recommend checking out the new www.PolitiKills.com www.PolitiKills.com to listen to tracks from the remix EP and watch the new "Politik Kills" music video. You can also access PolitiKills.com to download the different parts of the song and create their own remix. Finally, the site includes commentary from social leaders, writers, artists and more; all in the name of reflecting on the misuse and abuse of power plaguing the world. In other Manu Chao news, it was just announced that he will be performing at the Outside Lands Music Festival at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on August 22nd and Austin City Limits Festival on September 26th. Be on the lookout for some more dates.
"Street Gospels: Deliver the Word" // ’Por el Suelo’ MURAL in Los Angeles
POR EL SUELO: PACHAMAMA
Feb 13 2008 5:31pm / Posted by T7L CREW
Street Gospels: Deliver the Word by James W. Riley
There stands a wall draped in black, scripted with antique-gold lettering.Manu Chao’s song lyrics read:
Por el suelo hay una compadrita Que ya nadie se para a mirar Por el suelo hay una mamacita Que se muere de no respetar Pachamama te veo tan triste Pachamama me pongo a llorar
Translated into English it means:
Dirt cheap, here’s a female companion That nobody bothers to see Dirt cheap, here’s a mamacita whos dying, she has no respect Pachamama, I see you so sad Pachamama, I’m going to cry
The mother goddess, Pachamama, presided over the indigenous peoples of the Andes for centuries. In parts of Bolivia, Chile, and Peru, she was venerated as the Virgin Mary—a legacy of Spanish colonialism. Today, on a street corner in Hollywood, California, a mural in her honor sanctifies the City of Angels. Three native Angelino scribes, Retna, Dame, and Werc, use the concrete canvasses of Los Angeles as a gallery to display their reverence.
In graffiti terms, a mural is referred to as a "production," which is made up of smaller "pieces." This particular production’s religious iconography exalts the genre into a sacred place, into the realm of deities.
A floating crown signifies the majesty of this production. To the right of the crown, Retna’s piece, a skeleton of vibrant greens electrifies the wall, imagery of feathered letters with bird-of-prey claws clutch the wall, and hint of Mayan undertones. A copper braided cross stands erect, flames spiral from its ends spill out of a halo encompassing it. To the left of the crown, pulsating colors embrace a sacred heart. The barbed-wired heart pumps love for the community. Four letters, "INRI" (shorthand for "eye-in-our-eye" or "inner-eye"), inscribed in Dame’s piece denotes a quest for identity in chaotic anonymity that is Los Angeles. Towering over the two pieces, Werc’s black Madonna, a beautiful bronze portrait of a mother watching over her child, radiates with holiness. From behind her elegant turquoise headdress, brushstrokes of deep rich red rays create an aura of grace.
In the background, Retna’s distinct style of calligraphy is a mixture of Egyptian hieroglyphs, Arabic, and Old English. All cultural influences become one. Nothing is taboo. Much like the music of Manu Chao, who sings about love, living in ghettos, immigration, and social equality in a plethora of laguanges including French, Spanish, Arabic, and English, often mixing them in his songs.
The production, like the lyrics that inspired it, tells the history of the devastating effects of colonization on indigenous cultures. The production aims to rectify this through mixed media, using both brush and spray paint. Inherently, graffiti art, as an urban sub-culture, is the anti-thesis to cultural hegemony. Despite negative perceptions of graffiti art, the genre implicitly comments on social issues, especially the social ills of misunderstood youth in Los Angeles.
In fact, the artists hope youngsters headed to the liquor store think twice about the handicapping effects of alcohol, which also plagued their ancestors. Ironically, in honor of Pachamama, believers spilled a small amount of their drink onto the floor after toasting. Yet coincidentally, it is also custom among gangsters to pour out a little liquor before drinking in memory of the dead. In light of this, the artists burn candles at the foot of the production in memory of fallen friends, and in prayer that no one else will lose their life on this street corner.
The artists even risk life and limb delivering their street gospel. In the shadows, neighborhood thugs hang back and watch on. These characters may actually view it as a blessing on their so-called protectorate. As the artist paint, local kids pass by to visit. Some even ask to become apprentices. In some cases, kids escape the fate of joining a gang by becoming graffiti artists. In this regard, the artists experience positive feedback.
Ultimately, these artists are products of their environments. And while art is left to interpretation, this production is an attempt to beautify a city’s streets with a genre that is misunderstood and underappreciated, much like social issues affecting their communities. Productions like these adorn the corridor of Los Angeles and remind us that artists cannot retreat to the comfort of isolated studios, but must respect, embrace, and cherish the urban landscape.
Manu Chao denunciará al PP por utilizar una de sus canciones sin permiso
Su canción 'La Trampa' es la banda sonora de un vídeo electoral que el PP ha empleado en varios mítines en Asturias
El cantante y compositor Manu Chao, figura indiscutible del movimiento antiglobalización, quiere denunciar la utilización que el Partido Popular hace de su canción La trampa, uno de los temas contenidos en su disco Última estación, Esperanza.
El partido conservador se sirve de una de sus canciones en la propaganda electoral "sin haber pedido nunca permiso para ello". La canción está compuesta junto a Tonino Carotone y narra la decepción de alguien que se siente engañado, se supone que por Zapatero. Su melodía y su letra son la banda sonora de un vídeo electoral de un minuto de duración que el PP ha utilizado en Asturias en varios de sus mítines, según informa Javier Cuartas.
Es la primera vez que Manu Chao se encuentra envuelto en un conflicto de ese tipo. Nunca ha querido prestar su voz a ninguno de los partidos tradicionales, con representación parlamentaria. "Pero aún menos al PP", apostilla su padre, el periodista y escritor Ramón Chao. Manu no quiere que nadie le utilice para su propaganda política y hoy pretende presentar una denuncia ante el juzgado por la que él estima indebida utilización de sus canciones.
"Manu se enteró de que el PP se servía de sus temas porque un amigo se lo comunicó a través de Internet. Los responsables del PP no le han pedido ninguna autorización, como tampoco se pusieron en contacto con la casa de discos", explica Ramón Chao.
Durante la campaña electoral el PP ha presentado a los artistas como un sector que vive de las subvenciones oficiales y que Zapatero se ha ganado con sus leyes contra la piratería intelectual. En el debate entre José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero y Mariano Rajoy el tema apareció sin que el líder del PP, que había acusado al PSOE de "untar" a los artistas, quisiera nunca asumir sus crìticas. Ahora Manu Chao pone en evidencia a un PP que se sirve, de manera "pirata" de uno de sus temas, desfigurando el sentido de la canción para intentar ganarse parte del electorado joven. "Manu pretende evitar el confusionismo, que su imagen y su prestigio no sea utilizado por gente por la que no siente la menor afinidad" dice Ramón Chao.
* Comunicado íntegro de Manu Chao:
Fue una muy desagradable sorpresa el descubrir hace un par de días que el Partido Popular utilizó de manera totalmente ilegal y sin ningun permiso previo la cancion La Trampa, escrita por mí e interpretada en buena amistad con Tonino Carotone.Con el agravante de hacerlo para un vídeo partidista, electoralista y denigrante para terceros.Es de notoriedad pública que no tengo ninguna simpatía por el Partido Popular. Tampoco ellos nunca se cortaron en respaldar varias criticas a mi forma de ser o a mi trabajo. Entonces, lo que yo trato ahora de entender es porque el Partido Popular se toma la licencia divina de utilizar la obra de gente que no le gusta. Y desde luego, por qué en su gran cruzada por una "normalidad" rancia, absurda e incomprensible, el Partido Popular se permite utilizar la música e interpretación de artistas que nunca se definieron como normales. ¿Será que artistas "normales" según los criterios del PP no existen? Puede ser que sí, puede ser que no; no lo sé ni me importa, porque al fin y al cabo todo acabaría en un debate estéril y sin futuro. Pero hoy en concreto estoy bien seguro de que esa persona idealizada e irreal que ellos sueñan no soy yo. Y ya que estamos, desde estas líneas hago un llamamiento a que vayamos tod@s a votar el domingo por cualquier partido que no sea el Partido Popular y evitar así lo peor que nos pueda pasar a tod@s estos próximos cinco años.
Siempre atento y feliz día (...dentro de lo que cabe...), Manu Chao
Q Magazine exclusive new remix of ’Politik Kills’ to download now.
Fans of Manu Chao can now claim an exclusive free download of his new single on Q magazine's www.q4music.com.
This version of the single, 'Politik Kills', has been remixed by UK reggae maestro Dennis Bovell and features an additional vocal by the legendary dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. It is absolutely exclusive to the Q website for the following week and will never be commercially available.
"Politik Kills” Remixes and Video Coming + Manu in Brasil
Category: Music
Salut - Hola - Hello - Alô !
Just wanted to spread the word that killer new remixes of the track "Politik Kills" will be hitting the masses in the coming weeks! There will also be a remix website where you can download the separate parts of the song to make your own remix. Manu is putting the final touches on the "Politik Kills" music video as well.
Manu Chao's latest album 'La Radiolina' was recently nominated for a Billboard Latin Music award in the "Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album" category. If you haven't picked up the Latin Grammy-winning 'La Radiolina', check it out. There's also a cool double vinyl edition of 'La Radiolina' out there – it is available at your local indie music store. Please support your indie music stores – they are the ones that are supporting Manu and many other great artists!
Watch a recent video of Manu performing with Brasilian rocker Silvério Pessoa during Carnaval in Recife, Brasil.
El músico durante su visita del pasado fin de semana
CAPITAL FEDERAL, Diciembre 04 (Agencia NOVA) El pasado sábado, el cantante Manu Chao estuvo en el Hospital Borda, donde se vivió una tarde inolvidable con su música y con improvisaciones junto a los colifatos. Más de setecientas personas lo acompañaron con una atención y un respeto inusitados.
Alertado por la crisis económica de la Asociación Civil La Colifata y con ganas de seguir colaborando, Manu Chao propuso editar un disco que ya viene preparando desde hace más de tres años.
El CD, que será editado por él mismo, contiene fragmentos de las emisiones de radio La Colifata. Además, el músico entra por estas horas al estudio con más de diez integrantes de la radio (internos y ex-internos) y en "talleres de producción artístico creativa" grabarán en conjunto algunas canciones.
El disco será editado en Argentina y en el mundo a mediados de 2008 y los beneficios económicos que resulten de este disco serán a favor de esta Asociación Civil.
Radio La Colifata quedó sin financiamiento desde junio de 2007 y hasta la fecha ha hecho diferentes acciones para obtener recursos.
Desde el mismo mes de junio, el grupo Los Piojos ha colaborado donando parte de las ventas de su merchandising en beneficio de la radio. Con ese dinero la Asociación pudo solventar los gastos de su sede/oficina pudiendo pagar los servicios de luz, gas, internet, insumos y parte del alquiler.
Vale destacar, que Radio La Colifata mereció, este año, 2007, los premios: Konex, Santa Clara de Asis, Podestá y "Una gota en el mar" al periodismo solidario.
Su director, el licenciado Alfredo Olivera, ha sido semifinalista al premio Alta Calidad, que otorga el municipio de Bologna (Italia) y finalista al premio Emprendedor Social del año 2007 que otorga la fundación Suiza SCHWAB.
La Colifata, ha sido elegida, también este año, por el mundialmente reconocido director de cine Francis Ford Coppola, como escenario para su próximo film.
La Multipremiada Colifatano tiene financiamiento y los profesionales que la coordinan (médicos- psiquiatras y psicólogos) llevan mas de 45 meses sin cobrar. (Agencia NOVA)
DOUBLE VINYL edition of La Radiolina now available
Just in time for the holidays….we're happy to announce that a special double vinyl edition of Manu Chao's "La Radiolina" album is now available in limited quantities.
You can order it online at Amazon.com by clicking on the above link, or find the album at cool retailers like Amoeba, Rasputins, Virgin, Waterloo, Sonic Boom, Easy Street, Zia's, Lou's, Music Millenium, Everyday Music and Kim's.
