Photos: Manu Chao Live on KCRW

There is no doubt Manu Chao is an international music star — he so easily crisscrosses genres that he’s pretty much created his own brand of revolutionary rock, with a good helping of reggae and dash of rap. He speaks at least four languages and sings in all of them. But, most importantly, he sings about topics of great importance.

As he told Tom Schnabel last night in a short interview between music sets, once he visits somewhere in the world where everything is good, maybe then he will start writing love songs. He said that the problem with politics is that it’s everywhere, “whenever you open your fridge,” so that’s what he writes songs about.

Manu performed a fiery set of music last night with a trio, stripped down from his 8-piece Radio Bemba, at legendary producer Bob Clearmountain’s Apogee’s Berkeley Street Studio in Santa Monica.as part of KCRW’s intimatemusic series Berkeley Street Sessions.

He started the show with the intense “Politik Kills” and moved through some slower songs like “Siberia,” “Mi Vida,” “Mr. Bobby,” before singing a couple beautiful songs in French. He stormed through the high-energy second set with a bunch of medleys merging his songs into one extended jam. The crowd really went wild when he inserted the rap of “Bongo Bongo” — a crowd of 150 people on their feet, exhilarated and inspired by the man who some call a worthy successor to Bob Marley.

He was joined on stage by two other exceptional musicians Madjid Fahem on guitar and Philippe Treboul on drums. Check out the photos below and tune in on Wednesday, November 10 to hear/watch the session live on Morning Becomes Eclectic at 11:15am.

RR

SET LIST

Set 1

politik kills

siberia

mi vida

mister bobby

te tromper

l automne est la

si loin de toi

neno pequenino

eu beije o sol

Set 2

el hoyo

expresso de hielo

senor matanza

amaluca de vida

tombola

giramundo

vivir sin ti

libertad

circo caliente

Encore

bienvenida a tijuana

la primavera

bongobong