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FRANCAIS:
L'Homme tranquille.
Tio Manuel ?
C't 'une pointure, un client, le Daron, plus de vingt cinq piges qu'il écume les salles de concerts, d'Austin à Clamart, qu'il y tricote ses riffs, tout seul ou en réunion.Un Grand Ancien, je vous dis, un pionnier de ce qu'on appelle aujourd'hui l'alternatif. De Wunderbach, aux Outsiders en passant par Judge Dread, la liste des associations de bienfaiteurs ou il a sévi est aussi longue que prestigieuse. Celui là, le rock n roll lui colle aux grolles, c'est rien de le dire.
Et pas fatigué avec ça, puisqu'il s'apprête à sortir son troisième album solo. Parce que ce dinosaure s'entête, à une époque ou les mômes téléchargent du « son », à bricoler tranquillou ses disques au son léché ou dub , guitares twangling et rock latino s'entremêlent.
Avec « 3 Cosas », Manuel le titi espingouin de banlieue nous enmène une fois encore en Amérique du sud. Comme il est pas ramenard ni va de la gueule le gars, c'est plutôt à la tranquille qu'il envoie ses jolies ballades , chroniques douces amères qui vous embarquent vers un continent et un peuple ou l'on cultive l'espoir et la révolte malgré le joug de l'Empire du nord.
C'est avec autant d'humilité que de talent qu' il en a remis un coup sur la meule pour chanter, célébrer, les déshérités, les immigrés et les déracinés chers à son coeur.
Rocker compulsif incurable, il joue partout, vous allez forcément tomber dessus que ce soit dans une grosse salle ou un petit rade. Régalez vous et cloquez lui donc un bécot de ma part.
Thierry « Cokrane » Pelletier
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ENGLISH:
Although Tio Manuel’s latest opus has long been awaited, it has been worth the wait ! Available
on March 12th, 2008, this third part of Tio’s adventures in the West Indies, 3 Cosas, the new
record of the Parisian Latin-rock band, takes us to a new playing field, an area where conflict
meets hope.
Manu Castillo, celebrated artist of the Parisian scene, is the former guitarist of Wunderbach, a
punk band in the early eighties which eventually reunited for the « Ultime Pogo Tour » in 2005.
With 3 cosas, Manu presents a crafted synthesis of his many influences, among which is an
assumed legacy of Joe Strummer or of Neil Young, for example in Cortez The Killer.
Whereas Rumba Urbana (2002) takes us into a joyful sarabande of ska and flamenco-reggae,
¡Asi es la vida ! (2004), while sticking to the reggae-rock beat, marks the transition between the
first period and the more blues-oriented one of this third record. 3 cosas is a plea for deprived
youth, the discovery of foreign cultures and respect for their roots, although it comes in a more
radical tone, supported by guitars that range from gritty to nostalgic.
The first track, Yoruba, with lyrics from Nicolas Guillén, sets the general frame. With this « Son »,
Tio Manuel surprises us with a languid and yet heavily outlined rumba, related to the Cubans’
passion for their own land. This song, an invitation to a full range crossover as well as a recall of
their African roots, introduces all the themes addressed in the album : unlikely encounters at the
boundaries of civilization, from the Maya jungle (as in SPS) to the American border (the slow
rhythm and the slide guitar of La Vuelta), from the wasted neighbourhoods (Barrio Quemao) to
the suburban melting pot of the huge North American metropolises.
Walking Warrior, with its definitely rock tone, launches the attack. It’s an anthem for the uprooted
and illegal. Then comes ¡A Acabar !, a rebellion chant dedicated to child soldiers all over the
world.
SPS is a different approach to the myth of the New World, promoting the fantasy of a possible
elsewhere with a charming guitar that leads us into the wilderness of Honduras and smuggles us
with Nina Rosa out of the barbed-wire-encircled town into the Caribbean Sea. Alas, reality
catches up in the form of a harmonica-dominated urban dub, Barrio Dub.
Further north, we get into the Democrat sector of Austin, Texas, at the SXSW Festival, where our
Parisian 'Spanish Cowboy' challenges the awesome Cuban Cowboys from New York in a guitar
battle song called ATX.
Back to the roots with Political Dub, a Manichean satire with two voices slamming casually on a
reggae beat. Then 3 cosas, a psychedelic psalmody on childhood, its demands and its
expectations… The very same issues Tio Manuel addresses in Barrio Quemao, where he unveils
his own bold and yet light-hearted youth in the suburbs of Paris, when he was flirting with the
limits.
The journey is about to end. After landing us on the shores of Mexico in 1519, Tio Manuel
reminds us what maturity has taught him : the path to reconstruction is a long one and the
wounds we leave to our children are as many scars… Protect childhood, those we raise, those
we forget, those we slaughter, those who are our future.
A soothed maturity and an undiminished watchfulness ; a sometimes disenchanted but yet
fascinated vision of the Americas.
(www.tiomanuel.com)
Discography
Rumba urbana :(M10 2002)
Asi es la vida (Garage / Night & Day 2004)
3 cosas (La Fugitive/believe/Mosaic Music Distribution 2008)
Video clip (Tony Sanchez Maad production 2003 see www.tiomanuel.com),S.P.S Maad 2008.
