old tour de france pictures
THE END OF MANO NEGRA
In 1994 Mano Negra released its last album: CASA BABYLON. After this release, the band Mano Negra went to Colombia and travelled there from villages to villages by train…the train of ice…when they came back to Paris, only three members of the original Mano Negra stayed with Manu: Philippe the timbalero, Santi the drummer and Thomas the engineer…Fidel Nadal also stayed with Manu…All the other members of Mano Negra let him down, seen.
Now Virgin was confronted to a problem : the album was released but the band was divided…So Manu, with his “association de quartier” organized a “caravana concert” at Montreuil, a suburb of Paris, France (this “caravana concert” was under a circus tent)…Manu invited I man to come and play a Sound System and toast with the band on stage, since I’m the co-writer, with him, of the title “El Alakran” on the album “Casa Babylon”…At that time Manu didn’t even know what was a sound system, seen.
I remember the first time I met Manu, in 1993 in France, him and his band didn’t know how to play reggae…From 93 to 94 they learned a lot how to play reggae with I & I rasta in Paris at a studio called Espacio Ornano. This experience with I & I is the roots of Casa Babylon (I & I use Babylon fi design the system, Manu put casa fi say “we live in it ” – Casa Babylon -)
The “caravana concert” was going on good…everyday, different bands came in to play…I was always entertaining the public with I Kupia Kumi Sound System (One Love Sound System)…when it was time for Mano Negra to play, I man was invited to perform on stage with Mano Negra…So the singers was Manu Chao, Fidel Nadal, Pablito (Todos Tus Muertos) and I man Carlos de Nicaragua…we always catch the caravana in fire…good show…lots of energies, seen. After 15 days of concerts in the Caravana at Montreuil, Santi told Manu that he would stop playing with him…long discussion between them…So we kept on playing without Santi…when the “Caravana Concert” was over, we went down south of France to have some gigs (Marseille)…
When we came back to Paris, we went to “La Pachanka” (Mano Negra’s office), Santi was there…He invited us to come in his office (Santi is the administrator of all Mano Negra’s business, this was how they had organized themselves)… He was vexed…he told Manu that he would definitively stop playing with him…Manu told him that they had a compromise with the album “Casa Babylon” and that they had to tour fi promote the album…Santi said he didn’t care and that the album will have to be sold without a tour, and added that Mano Negra was over and added that he prohibited Manu to use the name “Mano Negra” because this name is fi the old Mano Negra crew…
“But what am I gonna do now?” said Manu…”I was at the top during 10 years because of Mano Negra, and if I can’t use the name Mano Negra anymore, I will be down”. Santi answered that he didn’t care…if he used the name Mano Negra, he would persue him in justice, and Santi got even more vexed and told Manu to take his luggage and leave La Pachanka…
Manu got sad, took his things and we left La Pachanka… We sat on a step outside of the office, close to Montmartre…Manu cried he was hurt…I told him…”Manu, it’s not a problem – Fidel, Pablo, Phillip, Thomas, and I are with U…people are waiting fi listen to Ur music…there’s nothing you can do with those who are not here with you, so use those who are, because those are the ones U need, seen”. Manu overstood that…and he got strong.
We then moved to a squatt called “La Moskova”…there were lots of musicians, friends of Manu who used to live in that place from which “Los Mosko Kids”, 5 african brothers who put their voices on the song “El Alakran” from the “Casa Babylon” album. We lived with Manu at the “Moskova” for one month…organizing songs…preparing a group fi go tour fi promote Casa Babylon…Fidel and Pablito were there… The “Moskova” is were we started to check fi the name of the band…this is where we found the name “RADIO BEMBA SOUND SYSTEM”…everybody was happy fi this name…I remember that night we smoke joints of marihuana and organized a sound system to celebrate this…fi Manu it was hard not using the name Mano Negra anymore…If U listen to the song on Clandestino he mentions how they prohibited him to use the name Mano Negra, seen.
After one month, Manu was back on his feet again…He got a call from Fermin Muguruza…Manu’s friend from Irun (pays basque). Fermin called Manu fi invite us fi a tour all around the pays basque : Irun, Victoria, Bilbao, San Sebastian…Fermin was at that time a big star of hard rock in his country with his band Negus Guriack…so he had a lot of contacts…so we make some gigs in France and then we went to Irun…we played in many small bars, and more and more people wanted to see us…we catch a fire in every places we played at…and one day they invited us to a big festival in Victoria…We set Victoria on fire…(check out the pictures on the next bulletin I will send…the fire was so hot that the journalists wrote “LA FIESTA EXPLOTO CON MANO NEGRA”…(Santi was vexed in Paris when he got the news)… Virgin in Spain got the news and invited us to some gigs in Madrid…We went to Madrid and we gave more fire…Virgin was happy and invited us to a big restaurant with their crew. They informed us that they will sign 3 albums with us…and we accepted to sign these 3 albums…
So why Fidel Nadal, Pablito, and Carlos de Nicaragua are not on these albums: Clandestino…???…this is another part of the truth I will tell U about soon, seen. Today is the first time I talk about this story…it’s because there are a lot of stories that are never told…the ancients will always have stories to transmit to the youth one day fi make them overstand how things a gwaan…Jah know.
CHARLES WILTSHIRE
http://www.carlosdenicaraguayfamilia.com
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