Dear melomaniac, for three days now I have been listening on repeat the amazing new album of Manu Chao called “Viva Tu”. It’s just like I’m back in high school and I am hearing everywhere “Je ne t’aime plus, mon amour / Je ne t’aime plus, tous les jours”. I will be very frank and tell you that I was afraid for Manu Chao, as it has not released anything for almost 20 years!
But our hopes are up, the wait is over, and it definitely was worth it! Viva Tu is a treat full of Manu Chao specific tunes, an album that you can easily listen on repeat on your way to work, traveling on the coast of France, preparing to reach Spain.
Manu Chao is an interesting guy, being Spanish, but born in France from Spanish parents retreating from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The French raised Manu speaks no less than 10 languages: Portuguese, Greek, French, Spanish, Catalan, Arabic, English, Italian, Galician and, surprisingly, Wolof – the official language of Senegal.
This unique mix of flavors can be felt immediately on Viva Tu, the album features songs in many languages, from French and Spanish to English. The album is full of a mishmash of music genres, as we are already used to from Chao. You can hear reggae, you can hear ballad, you can hear ska, but you can also hear blues or hip-hop. For sure “Tu Te Vas” will become an international hit (at least).
Nevertheless, the bass is sweet, and the mood is uber happy – this makes Viva Tu one of the best cheerful albums I’ve heard in a very long time. This being said, I will conclude that the wait was worth it, and Viva Tu is great – I certainly hope that it will not take another 20 years for the next Manu Chao album to come out.
Let’s be cheerful together, give it a go, give it a listen, Viva Tu – dear melomaniac!
