Mr. Pepsodent

Anti-globalist Manu Chao played globally in “Gorbushka”

Promoters and the press were preparing intensely for the arrival of “the first European superstar of the 21st century,” as Manu Chao is called in the West. The anti-globalist musician made such demands to the receiving party that just hold on. Among other things, it was prohibited to attract large international companies (especially alcohol and tobacco) as sponsors and to accredit correspondents of official (and simply large) media to a press conference and concert. In general, a serious person is not an artist, but downright a bomber-terrorist, some kind of “Mr. Hexogen”. In fact, Manu turned out to be no more explosive than Pepsodent tooth powder. So, he took it and didn’t come to the press conference. There's nothing you can do about it - a hangover. Here everyone breathed a sigh of relief: our man, a good guy.

It's true. The positive emotions that the Gorbushka audience absorbed during the three-hour concert would be enough for the Luzhniki Grand Sports Arena. And to all Moscow stadiums combined. Despite Manu's demands, ticket prices were not at all low, and an impressive part of the audience was the elite. For example, the vocalist of the Leningrad group Sergei Shnurov flew to Moscow solely for the concert.

In the lobby of “Gorbushka” there were bands playing in a similar style to Manu. We warmed it up and it began. The accompanying musicians from Radio Bemba Sound System ran onto the stage, and the Negro vocalist began muttering something in Spanish about “hello, Moscow.” This was enough for the crowded stalls to start jumping and screaming - after a few minutes the atmosphere reached the temperature of a good bathhouse. When the audience steamed up, Manu himself appeared and immediately played all his trump cards - he gave out hits Mr. Bobby and Bongo Bong. Then songs from Manu's solo albums and pieces from the group Mano Negra were mixed in. (Manu became famous in its composition.) Manu Chao's solo albums are similar, like identical twins - the concert versions are much more varied and dynamic. Manu and his “sound system” are simply indomitable: the musicians play four or five songs non-stop, then half the lineup goes backstage, and half the lineup holds the listeners’ attention with all sorts of “dub” instrumentals and DJing. (This is how Jamaican “sound systems” worked in the late 60s: a truck with a disc jockey, musicians and self-powered amplifiers drove through towns and villages. And it drove “dub.”) Having rested a little, Manu and his comrades return - and everything again . And so many, many times.

The musicians played as if in a club, “until the last visitor.” At times it seemed that the audience would begin to order songs. There were no orders, but by the end (Manu finally went backstage and, according to eyewitnesses, “ate pizza”) people rushed onto the stage to fraternize with the musicians. By eleven it became completely unclear who was playing what and who was where. The concert ended when the last stagehand unscrewed the last nut.

Alexander BELYAEV