MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (KPRENSA) – Manu Chao returned to Mexico after 6 years and the faithful were ready to receive him. His tour of South America in February or March also went to Brazil, Argentina, Chile,Venezuela, Cuba, and Bolivia.

Manu and his band, Radio Bemba Sound System, concluded the tour with a concert this past weekend in the Zócalo of Mexico City. With this final concert, the fusion of music and rebellion that is Manu Chao returned to the place where he last played before 150 thousand fans in the year 2000.

Although the crowd was not quite as large this time, it was clear that Manu Chao is still considered by many to be a native son in this part of the world. With his disk “Clandestino” in 1998, Chao emerged as a strong voice for change in Latin America. He became known for both his music and his support of political causes. That has not changed.

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Manu Ciao was born in Paris in 1961, of a Spanish father and a Basque mother. He says “if there had been a ball in my house, I would be a football player now” There was no ball, only a guitar…and many intellectuals, singers, composers, painters, and refugees of South American dictatorships that often came to the home of his father, Ramón.

At the press conference before the Mexico City show, Manu proved that his passion for social causes and Latin America is still strong. “Change will not come from above; the only solution that I see is organization from below.” he said “No longer do I believe in someone that will come to solve the problems of the entire world; the only solution that I see is that each one, in his own neighborhood, should organize; none of us can change the world, but we can change our neighborhood.” He continued “I believe in thousands and thousands of small local revolutions; that one can organize with his neighbors so that the neighborhood functions better… that is the only possible revolution”.

Manu also talked very directly about the current debate over immigration. He was asked about the border wall that some in the United States want to build on the border with Mexico: “Walls are a daily tragedy.” He said “I think that the press has not spoken a lot about that. It seems surrealist to me. For example, in Europe right now a wall is being built in Ceuta in the north of Morocco, between Europe and Africa, it is so violent. The same thing happens between Mexico and United States with those lacking identity papers; it is a terrible tragedy.” He cautioned “They can build all the walls that they want, but the opposing pressure will always be too strong.”

Despite his strong political beliefs, Chao remains a dedicated musician. “I am finishing a CD that I expect to put out September. It doesn’t have a name yet, I have thought of thousands, but the name is always the last thing to come; the CD will have songs in Spanish, English, some in French and an in Italian” he described “I also have another disk recorded; a disk in portuñol, a dialect that is a mixture of words in Portuguese and words in Spanish. Finally, we have a CD of rumba that is played in the bars of Barcelona, that is titled “The worse of rumba – volume I.”

Manu understands the difficulty of being both a musician and an activist. He said “The music is “routine work.” I am not a symbol, I repeat it every day. The mass media wants to classify me, the political parties want to embrace me. I try to separate my political commitment from the music, but it is difficult. I am starting to think seriously if I should continue singing or not, I have an intelligent audience but I need to be careful not to become anyone’s puppet.”

Watching his passionate, unrestrained performance later that afternoon, that particular outcome didn’t seem likely.

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