Tears of Gold: Manu Chao and "Lagrimas de Oro"

Today's random tune is by Manu Chao and is called Lagrimas de Oro. The performing name of José-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao, Manu Chao is a French-born musician of Spanish descent who sings in French, Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, Catalan, Galician, and Portuguese among others. His influences are punk, rock, French chanson, Spanish-American salsa, reggae, ska, and Algerian raï. He also layers music, lyrics and sound recordings over each other, and often reuses sound from earlier songs to create new ones. Chao can also be very political in his music, taking on topics such as immigration, love, ghetto life and drugs. He is a personal friend of Zapatista leader Subcommandante Marcos, and he has many followers on the European left. You can find Lagrimas de Oro, which translates to "Tears of Gold," on his 1998 album Clandestino.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_Chao

Grounded: Manu Chao and "Por el Suelo"

Manu Chao brings us the random tune for today, called Por el Suelo. The performing name of José-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao, Manu Chao is a French-born musician of Spanish descent who sings in French, Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, Catalan, Galician, and Portuguese among others. His influences are punk, rock, French chanson, Spanish-American salsa, reggae, ska, and Algerian raï. He also layers music, lyrics and sound recordings over each other, and often reuses sound from earlier songs to create new ones. Chao can also be very political in his music, taking on topics such as immigration, love, ghetto life and drugs. He is a personal friend of Zapatista leader Subcommandante Marcos, and he has many followers on the European left. You can find Por el Suelo, which translates to "on the ground," on his 1998 album Clandestino.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_Chao

Better than McDonald's: Amadou & Mariam with Manu Chao and "Senegal Fast Food"

Amadou & Mariam bring us today's random tune, with Manu Chao joining on vocals. Vocalist Mariam Doumbia lost her sight at age 5 due to untreated measles, while guitarist and vocalist Amadou Bagayoko lost his sight at age 15. They met at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind and discovered that they had similar interests in music. Their music has developed from early sparse recordings consisting of guitar and vocals to a mix of traditional Malian sounds combined with rock guitars, Syrian violins, Cuban trumpets, Egyptian ney, Indian tablas and Dogon percussion. This style has been dubbed "Afro-blues." Manu Chao is a French born musician of Spanish origin. The producer of the album that this song is on, he sings in a number of different languages and first achieved success with his band Mano Negra in the early 90s, which practiced primarily punk and alternative styles. He went solo after the breakup of the band and began to focus on music that had a street vibe and a greater emphasis on Spanish. He has a tendency to reuse music or lyrics from his previous songs to create new ones. In 2003, he approached Amadou & Mariam and offered to produce an album with them. This song, Senegal Fast Food, appears on the resulting 2005 CD Dimanche à Bamako (Sunday in Bamako).

Blind Blues: Amadou & Mariam with "Coulibaly"

The random tune for today is by blind Malian duo Amadou & Mariam. Vocalist Mariam Doumbia lost her sight at age 5 due to untreated measles, while guitarist and vocalist Amadou Bagayoko lost his sight at age 15. They met at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind and discovered that they had similar interests in music. Their music has developed from early sparse recordings consisting of guitar and vocals to a mix of traditional Malian sounds combined with rock guitars, Syrian violins, Cuban trumpets, Egyptian ney, Indian tablas and Dogon percussion. This style has been dubbed "Afro-blues." This song, Coulibaly, appears on their 2005 CD Dimanche à Bamako (Sunday in Bamako), which was produced by world and Latin music star Manu Chao.

Light from Darkness: Amadou & Mariam with "La Fête Au Village"

The random tune for today is by blind Malian duo Amadou & Mariam. Vocalist Mariam Doumbia lost her sight at age 5 due to untreated measles, while guitarist and vocalist Amadou Bagayoko lost his sight at age 15. They met at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind, and discovered that they had similar interests in music. Their music has developed from early sparse recordings consisting of guitar and vocals to a mix of traditional Malian sounds combined with rock guitars, Syrian violins, Cuban trumpets, Egyptian ney, Indian tablas and Dogon percussion. This style has been dubbed "Afro-blues." This song, La Fête Au Village, appears on their 2005 CD Dimanche à Bamako (Sunday in Bamako), which was produced by world and Latin music star Manu Chao.