The new musical release by the prominent French singer Manu Chao offers an eclectic mix of international languages and sounds, political material, and rock rhythms in La Radiolina.
Six years following his 2001 album Proxima Estacion: Esperanza, La Radiolina has both similar and nonsimilar elements. 
Chao’s new album, his third solo, resembles those done earlier when he was part of the band Mano Negra.
It has more rock, compared to his first two.
Like his previous albums, some of the rhythms, guitars and tempos are repeated throughout the 21 songs, but not as much as before.
La Radiolina contains songs in different languages.
Chao sings in Spanish, French, English, Italian and what sounds like an African or Middle Eastern language.
The songs have a worldly flavor from the international rhythms of different cultures.
Chao’s music has always had some political and social content, and La Radiolina is no exception. With the song “Rainin’ in Paradize,” Chao lists some of the places that are in war. This, most likely, is meant to serve as a wake-up call to the world.
Six of the 21 tracks reveal the currently grim social issues, like war and poverty amongst other things.
There’s even a brief mention of President Bush, in both English and Spanish.
La Radiolina by Chao is enjoyable even if you don’t speak or understand the language that is being sung.
In the end, music is music, and it doesn’t care where you come from, what you look like or what your personal beliefs are.
On a side note, the different versions of the music video Rainin in Paradize are a visual gem and complement the message in the song perfectly.
You can listen to Chao’s songs or watch his music videos at www.manuchao.net.
