TRACER TRAILS FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY
Old St Paul's Church Hall. Edinburgh. Fri 12 Oct
' ' MANU CHAO exuberance of his highly politicised rock and reggae- . .. , : ~ - Glasgow Academy, Glasgow. Wed 10 Oct tinted Latin street music, first as part of the alt. Parisian : - ' family band Mano Negra then leading his Radio Bemba Manu Chao might just about be a household name in the troubadours through South and Central America,
UK, thanks in the main to 2001 ‘s ubiquitous Prdxima resulting in the albums Clandesfin and later Esperanza. Estacidn: Esperanza, but he has not conquered the After a break of six years, during which Chao has hearts and minds of Brits to the same degree as listeners pursued side projects such as taking production duties in Europe and Latin America. This should come as little on Malian duo Amadou & Miriam's Dimanche a Bamako surprise. It is the traditional music of these areas that and the soundtrack for a forthcoming Maradonna form the basis of his multilingual, mantra-led, ghetto documentary, La Radio/ina has shot to the top of many music collage — we of the Queen’s English have only a a European chart despite exhibiting less of the fun- limited enthusiasm for foreign tongues and that ‘world' filled personality and ear-pricking idiosyncrasies of feel in our pop music. earlier outings; favouring energetic, layered guitars But Chao hasn‘t given up on us yet, and is bringing over lilting Caribbean rhythms and quirky, found his brand new album and supporting outfit Radio sounds. Nevertheless, with universal hits such as Bemba Sound System to the Glasgow Academy this ‘Bongo Bong‘ and ‘La Primavera’ Manu Chao might be . fortnight. Now in his mid-40$, the Manu has maintained considered the original Basement Jaxx of world music “an3" Rome something of a Peter Pan image through the and is not to be missed live. (Mark Edmundson)
font) GUSTAVSEN TRIO Queen‘s Hall, Edinburgh, Fri 12 Oct