Manu Chao unveils “Tú Te Vas (feat. Laeti),” the latest offering from his upcoming album Viva Tu coming September 20 via Because Music. New single “Tú Te Vas” – translated to “You’re Leaving” in English – follows the release of “Viva Tu” and “São Paulo Motoboy” – and is a delicate and sensitive ballad about two souls who choose to part ways. True to Manu Chao’s style, the pain and struggle of existence are set to music. In collaboration with Parisian Laeti, the rapper known from the series “Validé,” the song is a polyhedral and smoky collage lamenting absence and cursing luck. Sung in both French and Spanish, “Tu Te Vas” resonates with anyone who has faced the heartache of a breakup.
Viva Tu is Manu Chao’s fifth studio album, with a 17-year gap since the previous one. However, Manu has not been absent from all kinds of audio and/or video recordings, both formal and informal. Since 2018, he has been posting his Free New Songs on his website, tracks that he gives away, either signed under his name or with collaborators. Also noteworthy are his contributions to Playing For Change, a project that brings together musicians from different cultures and is dedicated to building music schools around the world. He also recorded with Bunny Wailer, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, and more.
This latest album, Viva Tu, is pure Manu, it is chanson and rumba, it is cumbia and dub, it is the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, it is life and liveliness, it is a little alley without asphalt, a glass of clear water in times of muddy-fake, a shot of mead, intoxicating to the palate, revitalizing to the soul, energetic to the heart. Viva Tu is a celebration of the other, of us, in community, in neighborhood.
