Mano Negra

Mano Negra

Mano Negra was a music band in France, during 1987–1995, fronted by Manu Chao.

The band, founded in 1987 by Chao, his brother Antoine, and his cousin Santiago Casariego in Paris, France, was very influential in Europe during the early 1990s. Although it reached mainstream success in countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Italy, they failed to penetrate the Anglo. By 1992 the band got involved in different projects in Latin America that now are considered epic adventures: Cargo 92, where the band traveled to several countries by ship and the "Train of Ice and Fire" that involved traveling to the deep and savage countryside of Colombia by train. The band split up around 1995, although many members had already left by 1992. Some follow-up albums and videos were released after the band had split and formed other bands.

Mano Negra mixed a number of styles: punk rock, flamenco, ska, raï, salsa, reggae and African rhythms. The band, which is still popular on three continents, had been among the pioneers of world music fusion and are a direct influence on countless bands in Europe and South America. The mix of African, Latin and other rhythms is often called mestizo or patchanka (which is the name of one of their albums). Mano Negra is now considered a cult band and still spreads their spirit to multiple bands around the world.

After the split, Manu Chao embarked on to a solo career that earned more commercial success, due to smoothing his former style into a more friendly and chill sound, very much based on reggae rhythms.

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Name

The name "La Mano Negra" (English: "The Black Hand") was a supposed secret and violent anarchist organization that was founded in Andalusia, Spain, at the end of the 19th century. The Spanish National Police accused most of the Spanish anarchists of being part of the organization. In the 1880s, Andalusia had experienced a severe economic crisis. Due to the resulting misery and famine, farm workers revolted, burning and looting bakeries and numerous orchards. This led to the authorities' carrying out mass arrests and public executions. Despite the debates that took place, for years, about the existence of this organization, it is now widely recognized in academic circles that it was a type of "false flag" invention, by the Sagasta government, in order to suppress peasant revolts in the south of Spain. Chao's parents were political exiles from Spain who moved to France, escaping persecution from the dictatorship of Franco.

"La Mano Negra" is also a common expression in Spanish to say, "Aquí hubo mano negra" ("There was a black hand here") to say that someone with authority, in a particular event, manipulated things illegally for its benefit. The expression is also used sometimes as a name for illegal employment.

However, it was in reading a comic Dominique Rousseau that the idea came to the group. "Mano Negro" was the name of a band of guerrillas in South America, and the band liked the black-hand symbol.

Origins

In the mid-1980s, alternative rock bands such as Bérurier Noir, Noir Désir, or Los Carayos were leading the local scene. It is in this context that the musician Manu Chao, with the intention of recording some songs written that did not fit into the groups of which he had been a part, decided to start a band with his brother, trumpeter Antoine Chao, and his cousin, drummer Santi Cassariego. Needing more musicians, they called the group "Dirty District" and recorded in 1987 EP Takin' it up (Boucherie Productions).

After this recording, the group was diluted almost sporadically, with three members participating in other projects: Manu in Les Casse Pieds, Antoine with The Kingsnakes Carayos and with Santi. However, the following year, they recorded the first LP of the group, Patchanka. That album had songs which Manu had written before and which Dirty District again participated with other musicians from Les Casse Pieds, urban group, holiday, folk and gifts to improvise, Hot Pants and Los Carayos, to accompany the three members of the group. Patchanka is an album that sounds like the time period, made on a budget and with imagination, and Manu Chao allowed recording several songs as unedited renditions: "Mala Vida", "Indios de Barcelona" and "Ronde de Nuit", among others.

The laborious search for the Patchanka sound did not stop there, as Manu continued to collaborate with other groups, while Patchanka continued to accumulate good reviews. Daniel Jamet (lead guitar), Jo Dahan (bass) and Philippe Teboul (drums), as 3 musicians from Les Casse Pieds, decided to join the project Mano Negra, and later would be joined by keyboardist Tomas Darnal. The group toured in France and drew media attention, getting a contract signed with major label Virgin Records France, which brought them criticism from France's alternative scene, but otherwise let them pay for their travel.

Success

In 1989 the band started recording their second LP, Puta's Fever ("Slut's Fever"), a title that reflects the contempt with which other groups were treated for their signing with Virgin Records. Pierre Gauthe, trombone, joined as the eighth member of the group, and they went on tour to Latin America, choosing countries like Peru or Ecuador, unaccustomed to receiving foreign rock bands, causing a sensation in the audience to perform free concerts in auditoriums and public places. Recording concluded on Puta's Fever, considered one of the best albums of the group, which mixes Tex-Mex ("Patchuko Hop"), Arabic songs ("Sidi H'Bibi"), flamenco, etc. Enriched with the Latin American experience and tucked behind the success of the new job in France and other European countries, they began a world tour in 1990, leading them to visit more than fifteen countries, including: Japan, Holland, Germany and the United States, where they opened for Iggy Pop. However, the U.S. tour was not a good experience, and the band decided not to pursue the Anglo market since they don't identify themselves with their style of performing.

During 1991, while the group continued to tour the European continent, its members began to show signs of disunity. However, they began recording in Cologne (Germany) which would be their third LP, King of Bongo. The album, which was not well-received by critics, included more lyrics in English, fewer Latin rhythms but more rock and hardcore sounds. Some English songs are "Mad Man's Dead", "Out of Time Man" or "Bring the Fire". Later, the group performed what would be its last concert in Paris with all its members, in the plaza of La Défense, with attempts to cancel the show by the municipality.

Worldwide tours

Later that same year, 1991, during one of its Japanese tours, they decided to record the only live album of the group, In the Hell of Patchinko, recorded during two concerts at the city of Kawasaki (Japan). The work captures, in essence, the energy of live band, as Mano Negra was a band of performance, which owed much of its success to its eccentric performances and travel. Precisely in this year, they started the Cargo 92 project, embarking from the city of Nantes in the cargo ship Melquiades with the theater company Royal de Luxe, in order to start a boat trip to South America, subsidized by the French government. The tour, which lasted nearly five months and visited countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Cuba, Ecuador, Brazil, Uruguay or Argentina, giving free performances in public places, witnessed the weakening of the group. After four months, without a break, in unfavorable economic conditions, the rebellious spirit of the group showed signs of unwillingness to continue. It is not until July 1992, in Buenos Aires (Argentina), that Mano Negra gave its last concert with all original members, preceded by an incident in the program TV Attacks, when the keyboard player broke a monitor. That same year, they published the compilation album Amerika Perdida ("Lost America").

Upon returning from South America, the tension between group members continued to grow and trumpeter Antoine left the band. The rest of the band, especially Manu, gave form to what would become its next album, Casa Babylon ("Babylon House"), an album like King of Bongo, unrelated to their previous albums. At the same time, the group published a biographical book collection that includes a picture disc Bande Originale Du Livre with new songs, some included later in the album Casa Babylon. During the recording sessions, Jo Dahan and Daniel Jamet also left the group, letting new members enter, which were not welcomed by some former members. One of them was Fidel Nadal, Argentine vocalist from Todos Tus Muertos and Gambeat bass player from Manu's new band, French Lovers. The result of the recordings was the only concept album of the group; piece by piece, it becomes a party of Latin rhythms mixed with rock and hardcore shoots.

The group, as such, did not interpret the themes of Casa Babylon, although several of its members made some presentations in Spain with different names, such as Larchuma FC or Radio Bemba, and offered some collaborations with other groups, especially with Negu Gorriak, from the Basque Country.

End

In late 1993, several members of the group decided to make a train trip to Colombia to which are added some members from Royal de Lux and group French Lovers. After two weeks of travel, and after the last of its two concerts, in Santa Marta and Aracataca, all other members of the group, except Manu and Thomas decided to return to Paris. It was the end of an era, which Ramon Chao described in the book The Train of Ice and Fire: Mano Negra in Colombia.

However, in 1994 the details are finalized for the start of album Casa Babylon, which will not do either U.S. or England. The music video of the song "Señor Matanza" (Mr. Slaughter) began to give more publicity to the band in Latin America, which had come so far, but unfortunately when the band was already dissolved, a fact ignored by many of its admirers. Meanwhile, among the old members there were two positions for membership: a commitment to continuity of the band, giving freedom to enter for other participants, while leaving the door open for the original members to return anytime. On the other hand, some members wanted Mano Negra to cease to exist, at least to not use that name. This second approach would be imposed.

In 1995, Manu Chao and other members of the band, whose desire was to continue to offer concerts in Madrid, but due to the restriction on the use of the former name of the group, do so as "Radio Bemba", the final project that also dissolved. In 1998, the compilation album Best of Mano Negra was released, including 22 hits and two previously unreleased tracks. The album was well received, although it was criticized for the fact it was released just as the LP Clandestino, Manu Chao's solo album was having some success.

In 2005, there was a planned release of a double DVD (video) of the group, with six hours of concerts, documentaries, and rare images in the history of the band. Manu Chao was not involved in the production, but six members, Jo, Tom, Phillipe, Daniel, Antoine and Pierre, offered interviews to promote the work. In a presentation to Radio France in the program,Fou du Roi, they perform three themes: "Jamie Jamie" plus "Sidi H 'Bibi" and a version of "Jesus Reviens" (Jesus Return) that they title "Manu Reviens", calling the former leader of the group to his return. In December 2005, the same members participated in a festival like Mano Negra Sound System, playing the song "Sidi H 'Bibi" and others, but as DJ, participating only with metals and keyboards.

Manu Chao solo

After the band split, Manu Chao continued his solo career, always committed with political and social issues, immigration, ghettos, and injustice, sometimes releasing albums completely in Spanish, and others in French. His Clandestino album aimed at featuring groups from diverse backgrounds, such as Mexican Tijuana No!, Brazilian Skank, and Argentinian Todos Tus Muertos.[1] The goal was to replicate the sound of street music and bar scenes from a variety of cultures. The album was a major success in Latin America, and though not an instant success in Europe, it eventually earned the Best World Music Album award in 1999's Victoires de la Musique awards. It sold in excess of 5 million copies. This success was followed by Próxima Estación: Esperanza ("Next station: Hope"), released in 2001, with similar Latin, Caribbean, and ska sounds. Two years later, Chao returned to his French roots, with the French-only album Sibérie m'était contée ("Siberia could talk").

Though Chao is quite well known in Europe and Latin America, he has not had the same success in the English-speaking world. Tours in the United States with Mano Negra were not as successful as elsewhere, and Chao seems inclined to focus his efforts in the places where his musical style finds its roots. Though his live performances in the U.S. are infrequent, Chao played a handful of dates there in 2006, including a headlining show at Lollapalooza 2006 in Chicago, IL, "Celebrate Brooklyn" in 2007, and at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland to a sellout crowd on June 23, 2007. He was one of the headlining acts at the 2008 Austin City Limits Music Festival (Texas) and the Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park (San Francisco, CA).

Band members

  • Manu Chao (Oscar Tramor) – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1987–1995)
  • Antoine Chao (Tonio Del Borño) – trumpets, vocals (1987–1992)
  • Santiago Casariego (Santi El Águila) – drums, vocals (1987–1993)
  • Philippe Teboul (Garbancito) – percussion, vocals (1989–1993)
  • Daniel Jamet (Roger Cageot) – lead guitar, vocals (1989–1992)
  • Joseph Dahan (Jo) – bass, vocals (1989–1993)
  • Thomas Darnal (Helmut Krumar) – keyboards, vocals (1989–1995)
  • Pierre Gauthé (Krøpöl 1er) – trombone, vocals (1989–1993)

Discography

Studio albums

Live recordings

Compilations

Other releases

Further reading

  • Chao, Ramón. Mano Negra en Colombia. Un tren de hielo y fuego (originally Un train de glace et de feu), 1994. A chronicle of Mano Negra's 1993 tour on Colombia's decrepit railway through small, rural villages, written by Manu's father, Ramón Chao. The name of the train, "Expresso de Hielo," was inspired by the opening line of Gabriel García Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude.

References


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