La Radiolina

La Radiolina
Studio album by Manu Chao
Released	August 30, 2007
Genre	Worldbeat, Latin, reggae, Rock en Español
Label	Because Music
Producer	Manu Chao
Manu Chao chronology
Sibérie m'était contéee (2004) La Radiolina (2007)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Entertainment Weekly	A- link
The Guardian	link
LA Times	link
The Observer	link
The Onion	A- link
Pitchfork Media	7.5/10 6Sep2007
Q	link
Rolling Stone	link
Uncut	link

La Radiolina is the fourth studio album by Manu Chao. It was released on 4 September 2007. Italy saw an advance release of the album on 30 August.

"Rainin in Paradize", the first single from the album, was available before its official release for download on his website. The single features a music video directed by Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica. There is also a video for the song "Me Llaman Calle", featuring Manu Chao performing in a local bar.

Track listing

1. "13 Días"
2. "Tristeza Maleza"
3. "Politik Kills"
4. "Rainin in Paradize (Scheps version)"
5. "Besoin de la Lune"
6. "El Kitapena"
7. "Me Llaman Calle"
8. "A Cosa"
9. "The Bleedin Clown (Scheps version)"
10. "Mundorévès"
11. "El Hoyo"
12. "La Vida Tómbola"
13. "Mala Fama"
14. "Panik Panik"
15. "Otro Mundo"
16. "Piccola Radiolina"
17. "Y Ahora Qué?"
18. "Mama Cuchara"
19. "Siberia"
20. "Soñe Otro Mundo"
21. "Amalucada Vida"

Languages and style

The album's title La Radiolina means the small radio in Italian, referring to a small-sized transistor radio. The album is mainly sung in Spanish. "Politik Kills", "Rainin In Paradize", "The Bleedin Clown" and the first two lines of "Siberia" are in English; "Besoin de la Lune" and "Panik Panik" are in French; "A Cosa" is in Italian, a first for Manu Chao; "Amalucada Vida" is in Brazilian Portuguese.

Musically, the album features a trademark of Manu Chao's style in its re-utilizing of the same instrumental backing tracks with different melodies and lyrics:

• "Rainin In Paradize", "El Kitapena", "Siberia" and "Mama Cuchara" all feature the same backing track, which is slightly heavier and rockier than the usual Manu Chao output, with distorted guitars played by Madjid Fahem.
• "El Hoyo" and "Panik Panik" are similar in style to the above song, but the chords are slightly different.
• Other tracks on the album are just coupled by using the same music: "13 Días" and "Besoin de la Lune"; "Politik Kills" and "Mundorévès"; "A Cosa" and "Amalucada Vida"; "The Bleedin Clown" and "Y Ahora Qué?", which at the same time have the same lead guitar melody as "Tristeza Maleza", but on a different chord.
• "Piccola Radiolina" is an edited instrumental version of "Mala Fama".
• "Soñé Otro Mundo" is a short instrumental excerpt from "Otro Mundo".
• "Me Llaman Calle" and "La Vida Tómbola" feature the same chords and the same accompaniment pattern, although the music is not exactly identical.

A similar "recycling" process also affects some of the lyrics. "Tristeza Maleza" features the repeated phrase "Infinita Tristeza", from the album Próxima Estación: Esperanza; the lyrics for "Besoin de la Lune" originally appeared with different music, and in a slightly longer version, on the album Sibérie m'était contéee; that same album also included the original French lyrics of "Sibérie" (again with different music), which Chao partly translated in "Siberia"; the lyrics for "Mama Cuchara" were originally written in Quito, Ecuador, during a rainy Sunday,^[1] and originally appeared, with different music, in Chao's short film "Infinita Tristeza", included in the Kikelandia bonus section of the 2002 Babylonia en Guagua DVD (that performance was never officially released). Additionally, "13 Días" and "Otro Mundo" contain phrases appearing several times in Chao's previous output, such as "Me hielo en la habitación / No tengo calefacción" in "13 Días" and "Calavera no llora / Serenata de amor" in "Otro Mundo". The lyrics to the tracks "Panik Panik" and "Politik Kills" are the same as those in the tracks "Camions Sauvages" and "Politic Amagni" respectively on Amadou & Mariam's album Dimanche à Bamako which was produced by Manu Chao.

Personnel/credits

• Manu Chao – vocals and guitars^[2]
• Madjid Fahem – guitars and bass
• David Bourguigon – guitars
• Jean Michel Gambit a.k.a. Gambeat – bass and vocals
• Roy Paci – trumpets
• Angelo Mancini – trumpets on "Politik Kills"
• Tonino Carotone – vocals and harmonies on "A Cosa"
• Amadou Bagayoko – guitar on "A Cosa"
• Cheik Tidiane – keyboard on "A Cosa"
• Flor – Spoken vocals on "A Cosa"
• Beatnik – vocals on "Tristeza Maleza"
• José Manuel Gamboa and Carlos Herrero – flamenco guitars on "Me Llaman Calle"
• Writing, composition, and production – Manu Chao
• Mixing – Mario C., Andrew Scheps, Manu Chao, and Charlie VDE Farravox
• Mastering – Adam Ayan at Gateway Sound
• Artwork – Manu Chao and Wozniak
• Photos – Chucolinai

Chart performance

Chart (2007)[3][4]	Peak position
Austrian Album Chart	5
Belgium Album Chart Ultratop (Flanders)	1
Belgium Album Chart (Wallonia)	2
Danish Album Chart	20
Dutch Album Chart	10
Finnish Album Chart	13
French Album Chart	2
Italian Album Chart	2
Mexican AMPROFON Album Chart	10
Norwegian Album Chart	7
Portuguese Album Chart	11
Spanish PROMUSICAE Album Chart	1
Swedish Album Chart	4
Swiss Album Chart	1
United States Billboard Top Latin Albums	1
US Billboard Top Canadian Albums	6
US Billboard Independent Albums	7
US Billboard Top Internet Albums	71
US Billboard 200	71
US Billboard Top World Music Albums	1

Year-End Charts

Chart (2007)	Peak position
US Billboard Top World Albums[5]	14

Sales and certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/Sales
Argentina (CAPIF)[6]	Gold	20,000^*
United States (RIAA)[7]	Gold (Latin)	50,000^^
^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. from Babylonia en Guagua DVD booklet
2. all credits taken from La radiolina CD booklet
3. "La Radiolina". Allmusic. Macromedia Corporation. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
4. "La Radiolina". Les Charts. Les Charts. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
5. "Top World Albums - La Radiolina". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 2007-12-31. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
6. "Argentinian album certifications – Manu Chao – La Radiolina". Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers.
7. "American album certifications – Manu Chao – La Radiolina". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click Type, then select Latin, then click SEARCH

External links

• "La Radiolina" - The Leak—stream the whole album at MTV.com