Manu Chao - São Paulo Motoboy

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Preorder new album 'Viva Tu' here

Following last month’s first single of the same name, “Viva Tu”, a heartfelt rumba dedicated to all the women in his neighborhood, Manu Chao shares “São Paulo Motoboy”, a brotherly tribute to all of the couriers in São Paulo risking their everyday lives as they ride their two-wheelers across the huge metropolis. 

“São Paulo is a breathing beast. And the couriers are the blood running through its veins, keeping it alive.”

Here, Manu sings of the perils of precariousness, and of the self-sacrifice of these workers surviving grueling daily routes. He sings of the laughter, dreams and bravery of city street knights who fearlessly weave between trucks and in and out of traffic jams. Men and women ready to give their all despite nothing ever being handed to them. All of it through the heat, the cold or the rain, emergencies or accidents that are always waiting to happen, with careless abandon and endless courage. He also evokes their undeniable sense of freedom.

It's a topic he's never tackled before, but one which also owes nothing to chance. Prior to his international success, Manu was a courier himself. A courier in the city of Paris. São Paulo Motoboy will inevitably bring up the same motorcycle-riding workers found on the streets of Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. It will also feature an immersive documentary depicting the daily life of ‘motoboys’ in São Paulo.

The patchwork of 13 new songs that make up Manu Chao’s upcoming “Viva Tu” album, inspired by his travels and people’s daily lives, will address the current state of the world, both in factual and virtual terms, in Spanish, French, Portuguese and English, with notable collaborations from legend Willie Nelson on “Heaven’s Bad Day” and French singer Laeti on “Tu Te Vas”.

Since the release of "La Radiolina" in 2007, Manu has continued to generously share his music. In addition to offering free tracks on his website and acoustic sessions on his YouTube channel, Manu has collaborated on projects with friends like Bomba Estéreo, Rumbakana, Charlart58, Carlangas, Dani Lança, Calypso Rose, and many others, and has participated in social causes like Playing For Change and The Dharavi Dream Project.

He has also continued to travel the world to meet his audience. Accompanied by his faithful musicians and friends Lucky Salvadori, Miguel Rumbao, and/or Mauro Metralla, in an acoustic format – “three friends with three sticks of wood” – they perform in various venues, family festivals, and popular events in France, Switzerland, Holland, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Singapore, Nepal, India, Macedonia, Slovenia, Norway, Colombia, Paraguay, Bosnia... These concerts are perceived with an intimate, almost mystical aura, but with no other pretense than to be in harmony and captivate a vibrant and engaged audience. Using the excuse of these concerts, he has visited communities, associations, and cooperatives, as well as activist groups defending social causes that need support: Manu listens and shares. And, of course, reunions with friends always fuel his inspiration.