It’s been a very long time since we heard new music from French-Spanish maestro Manu Chao. His legendary productions with Amadou and Mariam are re-emerging on the Malian duo’s upcoming “Best Of” album Beaux Dimanches. But Chao’s own 2024 album Viva Tu (out September 20) is bigger news still, distilling years of musical globetrotting and collaboration into a set of 13 new songs.
We get a preview today with the unveiling of “São Paulo Motoboy,” an homage to the motorcycle delivery workers of Brazil’s crowded and frenetic commercial capital. The central “motoboy” in the video is in fact a woman, bounding through the city streets and highways with a delivery box labeled, “Carregando Injustica nas Costas” (carrying injustice on your back).
The PR for the video says, “Manu sings of the perils of precariousness, and self-sacrifice of these workers surviving grueling daily routes. He sings of the laughter, dreams and bravery of city-street knights who fearlessly weave between trucks and in and out of traffic jams. Men and women ready to give their all despite nothing ever being handed to them. All of it through the heat, the cold or the rain, emergencies or accidents that are always waiting to happen, with careless abandon and endless courage. He also evokes their undeniable sense of freedom.”
It's classic Manu Chao, tuneful, groovy, provocative and fun!
