How Manu Chao Lost Everything... Then Made a Masterpiece

Who's the first artist you think of when I say political music ? Bob Marley? The Clash? N.W.A. ? All great, but there's one name people often overlook . Manu Chao . In 1998, he released Clandestino, an album about injustice and life on the fringes . Today, it's hailed as a masterpiece, but at the time of recording, everything was falling apart . Manu Chao drifted for years with no direction until a chance encounter deep in the slums of Rio would change everything . This is the story of Clandestino . The son of Spanish refugees fleeing the Franco regime , Manu Chao was born in Paris in 1961 . By the mid-80s, he had joined several bands such as Hot Pants , Los Carayos, and most notably Mano Negra . Heavily influenced by The Clash and their genre-blending approach , Manu Negra became nearly impossible to categorize , mixing punk, reggae, salsa, ska, and much more . So, you play punk or you play reggae [music] or you play traditional from North Africa or or salsa or and I like all these music . So, to play all these music , I have to play in five bands. So, . So, that was the start of Manu Negra , to decide to make a band where you where you can [music] play anything . The band found success in Europe and Latin America , releasing four studio albums before everything ended in 1994