Loading ...Manu Chau
Written by Brian David Crane on November 13th, 2005
Manu Chau put on a great show last night in Pajas Blancas Center near the airport in Cba. It was my second big concert in Argentina and I continue to be amazed at the energy in the shows (the energy is similar to that of a football match). The fans chanted “Manu - Manu” (like the name of the Argentinian player who is playing for the Spurs and was voted MVP last year). I went with Geli and Ernesto and met up with Flaca and some other interchange kids throughout the concert - Ernesto and I started out in front of the sound booth before heading into the “pit” in the front where it was so hot I could only stay for maybe 3 songs (but I was within 15 feet of MC)…afterwards, I went to the back of the place to dance like a hippie where I met back up with some of the people I came with…As with my other concert experience here (Campus Rock the performers couldn’t help but engage in a bit of U.S./Bush bashing (and I group the two together because even though MC only talked about Bush there were several disfigured U.S. flags on t-shirts help aloft with a lot of middle fingers…). MC changed the lyrics from “que hora son mi corazon” to “que hora son en Washington” with a gun-hand-gesture to the head while everyone flicked him (or most likely who he was referring to) off…open political debate is cool but group-think is not and what I saw last night was not a political debate but some sort of mindless childless response by a bunch of people who don’t like the ideas represented by the U.S./Bush/Globalization but have failed miserably to express an alternative vision and therefore have resorted to group-think and blatant anti-Americanism. Am I being too harsh? Leave me a comment and let me know…Either way the concert was cool and this short political bit I related didn’t affect my enjoyment of the music.
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November 14th, 2005 at 6:27 am
No way… hey remember you used not to like him when we were in France!!! I’m jealous, have fun, and tell him bonjour for me!
November 16th, 2005 at 12:23 pm
The thing is, you can’t expect political debate to occur in a concert, where nothing is set up to enable any kind of dicussion… However, you can’t accuse Manu Chao of trying to impose his political views as he is known to be extremely active on the political scene. So no matter whether one agrees with his positions or not, there are many more musicians who put forward their ideas without offering any kind of platform to discuss, and I believe Manu Chao is not one of them. What do you think? (I apologize in advance if my sentences are not 100% correct!) Carole - I agree with your observation that a rock concert is not a forum to discuss political ideas. What I dislike from a personal perspective (because I disagree with the message) is putting people in a situation whether it be a concert or a classroom where only one side of the story is presented. This is my critique of Argentina as a whole rather than just the concert i.e. that only a negative image is presented of the U.S. and when this image or idea is constantly repeated it becomes accepted without being questioned. “Perception is reality” is definently the case in Argentina where the people perceive all things American as being evil because this is the only perception they are presented with. Someone like Manu Chau who has stated his political positions only makes this perception worse. He has every right to make his positions known but for someone who claims to fight for the pueblo in Africa and Latin America I think his position is wrong (with respect to Africa at least) because he is critizing the U.S. for “doing nothing” when the U.S. gives so much aid to African nations. Now…how that aid is spent is another question…but is it fair to criticize the person who gives a dollar to a homeless man because that homeless man might buy drugs or alcohol with that dollar and only make his personal problems worse? What is better? Is it better to not give the man a dollar (or, on a larger scale, to not give aid to Africa) because you know that it will only go into the hands of corrupt politicians? To me, the U.S. is damned if it helps because it is labeled as trying to impose its views on another country and damned if it doesn’t because it is labeled as being greedy or unsympathetic…(BRIAN)
November 16th, 2005 at 12:56 pm
Wow.. your response went way beyond my comment!! Well, I would like to argue back on the ground of the new discussion, but I am too lazy to write a long text in english right now! So.. I’ll have my revenge on the phone, hopefully.