Manu Chao Shares ‘Viva Tu’, the first single from his new album arriving later this year
“Viva Tu' is first and foremost the love of all my neighbours, it's a rumba I wrote for my neighbours as well as others from various places. It's about accepting yourself as you are, and from the moment you accept who you are, Viva Tu!” Manu Chao, 2024
Manu Chao has unveiled his new single 'Viva Tu', the first track to be released from his upcoming album out through Because Music later this year. 'Viva Tu' can mean long may you live, be yourself, or believe in yourself. It's a message of hope when the whole world is faltering. It’s an open hand. Hate is within anyone's reach. Love is an act of courage.
Some will view the release of 'Viva Tu' as Manu making his return. In truth he never left. He’s been flying under the radar. On the road to simplicity. Travelling with two friends, “just three guys and three sticks”. A healthier way of looking at the world. Pared down and uncluttered. Whether by objects or feelings. With a pure heart. And no pretension. Manu Chao is taking up the torch of a folk singer without a stage, playing alongside the people who have come to see him. From ancient storytellers all the way up to Woody Guthrie, the tradition is as old as humanity itself. Something to share and pass on.
LISTEN TO 'VIVA TU'
WATCH THE 'VIVA TU' VIDEO
'Viva Tu' is an introduction. A song. A rumba. He wrote it for his neighbours. From Barcelona and other places. Like a message in a bottle. A selfless invitation, made using words borrowed from an instinctive imagination rather than any set work process. As he has often confessed, “chance is the greatest artist of all time”. Manu Chao is a collector of what he calls “little bits” that come to him. Eventually, these bits and pieces form a song. And that's all it takes. With him, accidents can turn into creations. With words that gaze straight into the eyes of others, he lets them into his heart. In the accompanying video, people are sketched out in a thousand colours, at once nameless and at the very heart of everything. They represent life in all its simplicity, without pretension, when we are able break away from the time constraints of this greedy, over-hurried world. It is an ode to slowing down everyday life, and bringing bodies and souls closer together. It’s a song he's been playing for quite some time now, in every place the roads have taken him. For him, songs are alive, in constant mutation. Yet 'Viva Tu' is by no means an orphan. It is the promise of an album.
Manu is a minstrel. A wanderer. A free man moving from village to village, making the most of stopovers, theatres or inns. Of life. Chao is the world's most anonymous star. With no mask, no disguise, he crosses continents at a poet's pace. Even those unfamiliar with Manu Chao end up knowing him because they have ears, a heart and they’ve been invited to a festival, a wedding, a funeral, you name it. He's a man who's more in tune with solstices than calendar years. He has a truant’s ambition. He’s a singer and a song-gatherer. Whether in a supermarket in Melun, France, or a faraway village in Uruguay, Manu Chao is always right there.
