EP123: Josh Kun on Manu Chao’s “Clandestino” (1998)

Episode notes

When Manu Chao announced he would be releasing his first solo album, fans around the world were both elated and hesitant. Manu’s previous albums with his band Mano Negra were both critically and commercially successful, but the band’s breakup was ugly and Manu was running around Central/South America, playing bar shows for three years before he started work on the album.

Clandestino was initially released to little mainstream success, but eventually found its audience around the world. It tackled issues like social injustice and immigration and spoke to the displaced. It spoke truth to power.

Writer and academic Josh Kun sits down with Oliver and guest host Ernest Hardy to talk about the power of politically charged music, the nomadic production of this album, and the term “world music.”

In this episode...

Oliver Wang

Host

Morgan Rhodes

Host

Christian Dueñas

Producer

Guests

Josh Kun

About the show

Hosted by Oliver Wang and Morgan Rhodes, every episode of Heat Rocks invites a special guest to talk about a heat rock – a hot album, a scorching record. These are in-depth conversations about the albums that shape our lives.

Our guests include musicians, writers, and scholars and though we don’t exclusively focus on any one genre, expect to hear about albums from the worlds of soul, hip-hop, funk, jazz, Latin, and more.

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