Manu Chao - Musical revolutionary and man of the people

Listen To 'Rainin in Paradize' EP

My first encounter with Manu Chao was in Northern Brazil (which Chao considers a second home) when he ran onstage unannounced, and jammed with a local band from Recife for the next two hours. He was able to whip the thousands of local Brazilians into a frenzy who knew (and sang) the lyrics to all his songs even though they didn't speak the same language. No other artist in the past decade has assumed the mantle of political engagement, passion and global empathy once worn by Bob Marley quite like Manu Chao.

Chao has just released an EP 'Rainin in Paradize' as a preview of his upcoming album 'La Radiolina' - his first studio album in six years. He is on a North America tour this summer and from a stage in Brooklyn, which was draped with a banner carrying the slogan 'Immigrants are not criminals', Chao shouted: 'You cannot fight terrorism with terrorism, you should fight violence with education not more violence.' [More...]