Clandestino
Manu Chao
1998
Album Summary
Clandestino is the first full-length solo album by Manu Chao, released in 1998. The album contains many soundbites throughout, two of which are bits of a speech by Subcomandante Marcos and, like Chao's subsequent albums, was mostly recorded by the musician himself in various locations around the world, using a small laptop—which is referred to in the liner notes as Estudio Clandestino. The French edition of Rolling Stone magazine named this album the 67th greatest French rock album (out of 100). The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The album was ranked number 469 in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2020.
WikipediaWell, that was a delightful surprise. This album was just fun. It was energetic without being frantic, proud of its roots while staying accessible, complex without being too complicated. I really enjoyed it.
When you're in Mexico, and you go downstairs at whatever dive backpacker hostel you're staying in after a huge night drinking the shitty local imitation Corona, this is exactly what the seedy cunt who owns the hostel will be playing as he has a ciggie and hoses the vomit off the floor. He somehow won't be hungover, but you'll want to die. You'll also remember, through the haze, getting knocked back by that cute fair-weather hippie chick who is staying in one of the other rooms. You thought her flowing skirt, flirty behaviour and see-through top were a come-on, didn't you? lol. Just drink your breakfast beer and hang your head in shame, loser. Maybe you should give googol bordello a go if you're serious about trying to root chix who are pretending to be free spirits for the duration of this one holiday. Throw your standards out the door; just do it. Snarky disses aside, this was pretty catchy. 3/5.
I expected to say "I respect this, but it's not for me" and call it a day, but it was way more listenable than I expected. Plus, who can resist a lyric like "Welcome to Tijuana / Tequila, sexo, y marijuana"? Best track: Welcome to Tijuana.
Love the vibes of this one. Something that will definitely make my rotation since I'm always looking for good world music to vibe to.
So far I like this one. I think the soundbites add some interest to the songs, and I like the sound of Spanish music. I liked this one a lot. I would consider downloading this one.
Habe dieses Album auf dem Weg zum Splash 2011 gehört, obwohl das LineUp weiter weg von Manu Chao nich sein könnte. Aber so bringt man sich halt in Stimmung. Irgendwas zwischen 4 und 5 würde ich als Bewertung da lassen, aber Rationale Zahlen sind ja nicht möglich. Danke Entwickler.
Es difícil hablar chido sobre un wey que creó un personaje con este disco y que luego se lo creyó hasta que que el Manuel Chao, ciudadano francés, desapareció por completo. Un wey que seguro tiene un pinche castillo en Francia o algo así por el estilo pero que en algún momento representó cierta posición política altermundista, de izquierdas pues, que era interesante. Para empezar, puedo decir que el wey nunca superó este disco. Ni lo hará. Creo que en Clandestino volcó todo lo que tenía que decir. Y ya no hay más que agregar. O mucho que agregar. Y está bien, no pasa nada. Eso que tenía que decir es esa idea de mestizaje desde el primer mundo, Barcelona mestiza. Yo siempre le olí un poco de turismo de clase a ese pedo. Digo, al final muy vivan los zapatistas y no sé qué pero vives en Europa, carnal. No es lo mismo. No es lo mismo tomar esa posición en México o en Chile que en la España del capital. Pero al menos lo intentó, hizo algo con eso, me caga la palabra privilegio, eso. Pero fuera de esa disonancia que siempre estará presente en lo que haga Manu. Igual les platico el ciclo con Manu Chao (que me ha pasado con muchas bandas): Lo amé, me formó. Me cansó, me hartó y luego me cagó. Odio, mucho odio. Escuchando el disco hoy, enero de 2020. Creo que tiene más sentido que antes. O al menos lo entiendo mucho mejor. Ritmos cubanos, ska, reggae, trompetas de esas que los españoles llaman fronterizas, flamenco. Me da esperanza, me da orgullo (¿?). La fuerza de nuestra región, la riqueza de nuestras expresiones. Creo que lo más chido es que es un disco profundamente melancólico. Celebrando la mentira, la muerte, lo ilegal, lo que se oculta. Una melancolía vital. Una que alienta la esperanza porque hay que estar vivos para sentir esa melancolía. La malegría. Trisfeliz dice un gran amigo. Mención aparte tiene Welcome to Tijuana. Es raro verme representado en el rock o como quieres llamar a esto. Está lleno de bangers este trip. 14 rolas, 14 likes. Bye.
This is one of my favorites ever. Manu Chao is an absolute party - incredible talent, catchy, great melodies, spectacular use of language. And a damn good concert.
this just rules. I don't know anything about this genre of music, and I'd never heard of Chao, but this was such an enjoyable experience. it's sort of beneficial that I feel like I don't know what's going on (due to both language and genre), because I can get very lost in the music!
I'm not always on board with the mood Manu channels, but the craft of that channeling is immaculate as far as I'm concerned. The mixing of vocals into the rest of the sounds is especially perfect. The dash between "French" and "Spanish" on Chao's Wikipedia is audible. Feels good to really love an album on the site again. No single track leaped out at me, which gives me more confidence in the score.
Really fun! A nice variety of moods and feels, but they all make me want to dance.
Manu's grasp on languages and genres is impressive. You never really know what you're going to get on each song. I feel like a lot of the record is influenced by early hip-hop (including the two rapped tracks earlier in the track list). A solid 3.5 from me. Favorite tracks: "Luna y Sol", "Mentira"
An absolutely fascinating. So many styles and really interesting sounds. Each song seems to have something compelling about it. I like the switch from Spanish to French and back again. I have no clue how to classify the music on this album but I do know I am very much looking forward to the next listen and discovering more layers of goodness. 4.5 stars
Very interesting mix. The music itself seems to be more Latin American inspired but the lyrics are sung in many languages including Spanish French and English. The music is infectious and very danceable. My Spanish isn’t as good as it used to be so I don’t understand as much as I like, but from what I’ve read, the lyrics have an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist
Loved it. I was impressed when after 4 or 5 songs he had shifted from Spanish to English to French. Apparently Minha Galeria (track 14) is in Portuguese. But aside from his mastery of different languages, the style is upbeat, the beats are catchy, and his lyrics are interesting (at least from what I could understand from English and French...minimally Spanish). Regardless the language, there's lots of neat wordplay. One knock is some cheesy studio effects added in periodically (e.g., the 80's video game missle sound in Desaparecido and other songs). My favorite tracks were Malegria (crazy cool pace), Dia Lunadia Pena (his best vocals and elegant melody), Welcome To Tijuana (weird and wonderful), Je Ne T'Aime Plus (great beats, which were the same as Bongo Bong but lyrics not as cheesy), Clandestino (nice intro to the album), La Vie a 2 (simple guitar arrangement combined with intense vocals).
Heh, I don’t think Manu Chao had much of an impact on the UK, but he was apparently massive a lot of other places. I first encountered his music while backbacking around Thailand around 2000, as was the custom at the time, and a guesthouse owner kept asking me “Do you like Manu Chao?” and I assumed it was Thai for something, food, or drugs or lawd knows what, and when I said I didn’t know what Manu Chao was he just kept repeating “Manu Chao! Manu Chao!” and waving his arms around - in retrospect to get me to pay attention to the music that was playing - but I was utterly baffled for an embarrassingly long time… The music is alright, I guess - chill, polyglot, a bit juvenile from what I do understand. Probably a three star album, but I'm awarding an extra star for the above anecdote associations... Fave track - "Bongo Bong" which I'm pretty sure was the track that was playing in that guesthouse...
Enjoyed this a lot - sultry latin vibes for a cold winter's weekend. Whenever it threatened to get a bit samey he'd chuck in a louder or softer number to keep things fresh, or sing in a completely different language just for the hell of it. Earns its fourth star for absolute commitment to the album format - I don't think anything else on the list so far has flowed so seamlessly between tracks.
I bet The Jesus from The Big Lebowski tells everyone this is his favorite album, but he's probably never even listened to it. Good on him.
Interesting listen, much different from anything I would normally listen to. Not really my thing but I thought some of it was enjoyable. Really impressive that he made the whole album on a laptop in the 90s while traveling the world.
Manu Chao’s “Clandestino” is a really fascinating tapestry of cultural and geographic musings that fall into each other without really ever clashing. Chao, a polyglot, sings in up to four languages on the album, and with each language, he pulls influences from the respective cultures, making the album a melting pot of ideas and sonic structures that are still cohesive. probably because Chao is selling a message of universal oneness and peace. but that cohesion, a few songs in, begins to breed repetition, till the music blends into itself. the album is light and breezy, sure, but that lightness begins to work against it: all of it fades into the background, with nothing truly lush enough to stand out. though i admit this is not music i would naturally gravitate towards, i can appreciate the courage in Chao’s ideas and thematic leanings; how he not only sings of unity, but strives to sound like it too. but the music just lacks the gusto to really hold itself together — and maybe that alone says a lot about the world it’s hoping to unite.
Spanish shite. Like the stuff you hear when you're hungover, eating breakfast in a bar in Benidorm
Really enjoyable music to have on while cooking dinner. Easy and interesting to listen to. The songs seemed varied but not too far from each other in theme/feel. Was a bit confused that some of the songs seemed to be in French but then Google told me he is a French born Spanish musician and sings in many many languages.
Deze moet ik deze zomer zeker nog eens opleggen, buiten op mijn (of een) terrasje. Lekker wegdromen. Het hele album hangt als mooi als een ketting samen.
Jedan od najdražih vinila koje posjedujem, topčina manu chao je prava momčina! Nije mi iskreno baš baš čista petica, al čem sam sve dao 4, mora biti ovdje među odabranima.
A classic. I don't listen to Manu Chao anymore but I'm giving this album 5 stars for still being fun and relevant in 2021.
An old favorite from way back. I mean, he's the king of Bongo Bong, what more is there to say?
Let's be honest here. Bongo bong is a hit. Could be an album of silence with that at the end and were still giving it 4 stars...but it's not silence, so 5
I love this album, it's a banger. Reminds me of Josh Watson circa 2008-2010
Another one from the bootleg era, I thought it was from like 2002 because that was when my sister downloaded it. I also thought many of these songs came from different albums lol. Also I should mention my mom loves this album. I myself think it’s great, I think I used to find his voice a bit annoying but I don’t anymore, also I use to dislike the fact that he is French but sings like latino, but I guess my views towards cultural appropriation have shifted a bit. The music is great, the concept amazing and the soundbites funny, soulful or thoughtful af. Marcos may be a controversial figure (not really tho) but damn those speeches hit. To the funny guy reviewing this album with his backpacking experiences: there are no cheap corona imitations here in México, you uncultured swine.
A catchy mélange of French, Latin, Reggae and whatever else. MC is a great songwriter, political and satirical, and an amazing performer, as my co-judge and I discovered 20 years ago. Bongo Bong was a big hit in my spinning classes. The theme runs throughout this album, and his next one. I found the original fron Manu Negro a few years earlier, which sounds like it could be a Beastie Boys version. I'm amazed he played mostly every instrument and recorded it on his laptop. And this went gold in Canada!
I was honestly quite shocked, as I think I made a preconception based on the album art. But this truly blew me away, with a good sonic blend and both emotion and playfulness staggered throughout.
I have a few songs by Manu Chao from some mix tape I received many years ago, but never listened to an entire album. Really enjoyed this! The French-Spanish angle was interesting too. Great!
Musically this was fun. Lyrically, I cannot really judge, so the album gets a pass on that. If only some of the other albums that we’ve had were not in English…
I knew of Manu Chao from a few tracks a friend had put on some mix CDs twenty years ago. I was definitely a fan, although I never looked for more of Chao's music. I've been missing out. This has such an interesting and engaging sound, and with only a basic knowledge of Spanish, I caught enough to want to decode the compelling lyrics further. I loved listening to this and I would like to listen to more!
I had never heard of this artist before, but loved it! Good variation of sounds (and languages) and I enjoyed all of it. Listened to it twice and enjoyed it just as much the second time. That’s five stars from me dawg.
There’s a school of thought which ascribed to Spanish culture a reactionary and backwards character which prevented any significant artistic or cultural products emerging from the Iberian peninsula. The origins of this character is rooted in the belief that Spain’s subordination to both Islamic and Christian fanaticism has imbued its people with a lingering aversion to the enlightenment values which gave life to some of the most precious artefacts of European artistic achievement. (see: the Black Legend on Wikipedia for more on this stuff). Truthfully, you can kind of see what is meant by this theory, even if there are glaring historical inconsistencies underpinning its premise. While I am not even 200 albums through this project, the contribution of Spain to the canon of popular music is practically nonexistent. Its folk music lacks universal appreciation, and when it comes to popular music you can just forget it. The eruption of punk in the country, which had already invigorated most of Western Europe in the late 1970s, came too late and with seriously derivative results (a prevailing trend). What has this to do with “Clandestino” by Manu Chao? Well, I would argue that the ex-Mano Negra member achieved one of the most significant Spanish contributions to popular music with this offering - even if he isn’t exactly, well, Spanish. His ancestral connections to the country are, in fact, to the Basque Country, which is a less than enthusiastic participant in Spanish identity-building. That being said, Manu Chao’s use of the Spanish language is some of the most poetically ingenious you will hear. While the general locus of the record is found, rather predictably, in the idea of loneliness and nomadic uncertainty, he illustrates this sense of vagrancy with some really biting social commentary and sardonic wit. The multi-lingual approach to his songwriting compounds this placelessness which doesn’t so much torment the narrator, but rather confronts him as an inescapable reality. Additionally, the record has a lot going for it sonically. It’s a really unique hybrid of Latin folk, hip-hop and punk which just works on so many levels. It’s a blend that’s hard to describe without sounding too reductive, but just listen to the subtle combination of genres on tracks like “Bongo Bong” - it sounds equally at home in the sun-bleached bars of Havana as it does in the rustic Parisian ghettos. It’s a concept album in the loosest sense, but is so rich in thematic depth - and these two things should not be conflated. The album is so far from pretentious, that it delves so profoundly into its philosophical material. So… Vive La France? Arriba España? Gora Euskadi? Yes…
I know nostalgia is making me overly generous but I'm sticking with it.
¡Este álbum es fantástico! Me encanta la musica y la voz. Suena como la banda sonata de Narcos México. Las tres primeras canciones son mis favoritas. Me gusta como Bongo Bong se convierte sin problemas en Je Ne T’aime Plus. Bien hecho. Estaré escuchando este álbum muchas veces en el futuro.
this was great - like hearing nicola cruz for the first time, only with more languages!
habs mir nicht wirklich angehört, aber eure Bewertungen sagen, dass es ganz gut sein soll. Also will ich das Album trotzdem mal mit vier Sternen würdigen.
Un disco performance, recuerdo clarito que a Manu Chao lo descubrí, como tantos otros seguramente, por el exitazo "Me gustas tú". Disco performance porque es un pastiche, porque así como recuerdo cuando un profesor en Letras nos decía que una guía telefónica no es literaria sino hasta que se incluye dentro de un texto literario y se resignifica, Manu Chao hace algo similar en la música cuando incorpora discursos (esas palabras del subcomandante Marcos), extractos radiofónicos, quizá televisivos, hasta "La llorona"... Me gusta sobre todo que las pistas son continuas y disfruto especialmente la triada (y sus transiciones) de "Desaparecido", "Bongo Bong" y "Je ne t'aime plus". "La vie à 2", acaso la única que refiere explícitamente un tema amoroso, también me parece destacable. Aunque hay comentario social, creo que se diluye y se deja muchas veces en el aire, no aterriza. Las melodías siempre bien y por alguna razón, toda esta mezcla de sonidos, de recursos, me recuerda a M.I.A. Podría ser como un álbum hermano de Arular (o primo, por sus distintas tradiciones). También lo sentí cercano a la trova en esencia, pero no en la ejecución. Si Clandestino se lanzara hoy, podría ser acusado fácilmente de cultural appropriation. 8/10
Thoroughly enjoyed this album. The upbeat sound throughout really carried this for me. his vocals were kept me interested despite the language barrier on most tracks and otherwise I could just listen to his guitar and get into a groove
Quite enjoyable to listen to, added to library. Already knew some of the songs so some nostalgia there as well. 4
Otroligt! Det är är ett album jag redan lyssnat en hel del på. Det är något med Manu Chaos musik som bara gör mig glad. Jag fattar ju absolut ingenting av orden han sjunger, men det spelar ingen roll. Det är känslan i musiken som gör det. I de snabba låtarna som "Luna y sol" blir jag sugen att dansa på ett sätt jag vet att jag inte behärskar. I de lugnare låtarna kan jag bara luta mig tillbaka och drömma mig bort till en annan plats jag aldrig varit på. Bäst: "Clandestino"
I dont speak spanish so I obviously did not get the lyrics but his singing is very cool. He had a lot of nice melodies under his belt. Great spanish album
Ecléctico total. Si bien no es mi estilo, hay que ser sincero respecto a lo increíblemente variado y rico en influencias que es este álbum (no por nada su popularidad ha abarcado gran parte del mundo hispano parlante). Es genial como logra condensar cada influencia sin comprometer su simpleza y el flujo del álbum. Para mí un sólido 8/10
Creo que todo mundo ha escuchado al menos "Clandestino" (la canción) y posiblemente alguna de las otras canciones, pero nunca había escuchado el disco completo. Es un disco muy interesante. Es como un electrovocal progresivo, con muchas cosas ocurriendo al mismo tiempo: - El uso de "samples", algunos de los cuáles se repiten a través de todas las canciones. - La mezcla de idiomas - La mezcla de estilos musicales: la base es como electro-reggae autóctono, pero no podría clasificar la música como un estilo específico - Lo diverso y "universal" de las letras: una mezcla de "protesta" contra los gobiernos, pero también de amor / desamor. Es un disco que se puede escuchar bien tanto en europa como en latinoamérica. Una nota especial sobre la canción "Clandestino": ahora que conozco un poquito más la situación geopolítica y que he tenido oportunidad de platicar con franceses, es claro que la letra se refiere a la situación de los inmigrantes en Francia, pero tiene un eco escabroso con la situación de los migrantes Mexicanos (latinoamericanos) en Estados Unidos. Hablando sobre el aspecto musical, tiene canciones muy agradables y poderosas, no sólo por la música, sino por la letra y los "samples" que eligió agregar en algunas de ellas. Es sólo que a mi gusto, hay algunas canciones un tanto aburridas, lo cual bajó un poco la calificación.