Manu Chao

Born in Paris in 1961 to a Spanish exile family, Manu Chao first emerged on the French alternative scene of the 1980s with Hot Pants and Los Carayos, before co‑founding Mano Negra in 1987 with his brother Antoine Chao and several close collaborators. With Mano Negra, Manu Chao blended rock, punk, ska, reggae and Latin music on Patchanka (1988), Puta’s Fever (1989), King of Bongo (1991) and Casa Babylon (1994), creating an energetic, hybrid sound that circulated widely between France, Spain and Latin America. After the group split he pursued a more mobile trajectory, fed by travels between Barcelona, Mexico, Brazil, West Africa and other international scenes. As a solo artist he favored multilingual songs in French, Spanish, English and Portuguese, with a more stripped-down sound where rumba, reggae, folk, acoustic rock and radio or street motifs intersect, notably on Clandestino (1998), Próxima Estación: Esperanza (2001), Sibérie m’était contéee (2004), La Radiolina (2007) and Viva Tu (2024). On stage he has also evolved his lineups with Radio Bemba and later La Ventura, while continuing occasional collaborations, among others with Amadou and Mariam and Calypso Rose.