Manu Chao (born June 21, 1961 in Paris; real name Jose-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao; also occasionally credited as Oscar Tramor) is a French Latin folk singer of Spanish origin.
Chao's mother was Basque and his father, writer Ramón Chao, Galician from A Coruña. They moved to Paris to escape Francisco Franco's dictatorship, which lasted until the dictator's death in 1975. Manu Chao thus spent his childhood near Paris.
Manu Chao was a well-known member of the Parisian alternative music scene, in bands such as the Hot Pants and Los Carayos. In 1987, Chao, his brother Antoine Chao and their cousin Santiago Casariego founded the band Mano Negra. Mano Negra met with success in France first with the hit single Mala Vida, then toured South America. The band split in 1995.
He sings in French, Spanish, Arabic, Galician, Portuguese, English, and Wolof, often mixing them in the same song. He is one of the world's largest selling artists, but is less well-known in the English-speaking world.
His music has many influences: rock, French chanson, Spanish-American Salsa, Reggae, Ska and Algerian raï. These influences were obtained from immigrants in France, his Iberian relations, and foremost his travels in Mesoamerica as a wandering nomad following the disbanding of Mano Negra. Many of Chao's lyrics are about love, living in ghettos and immigration, and often carry a left-wing message (he is, for example, very close to the Zapatista movement). He has many followers among the European left and the anti-globalization movement, though some resent his being part of the music establishment.
