Music transcends language, Manu Chao proves again

Despite half of the audience not knowing French, the whole auditorium waited for Manu Chao long before the concert began. 

Manu Chao is the acclaimed natural heir of Bob Marley and Joe Strummer; whose songs are covered by famous artists like Robbie Williams and Lily Allen.

The enchanter didn't disappoint the crowd of Dhaka either. The audience laughed, clapped and danced to the tune of "Bongo Bong" "La Vida Tómbola" at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. 

The Asian Tour of Manu Chao "Sibérie m'était contée," was organised by Alliance Française de Dhaka. It was held on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Francophonie with the support of the Embassy of France in Bangladesh on March 11. 

The concert started with opening remarks from Olivier Dintinger, the director of Alliance Francaise. 

Right afterwards, Manu Chao arrived on the stage with his partner. He started by greeting everyone and opened the musical session with a French song, thanking the French community of Bangladesh. 

Manu is adept in singing in multiple languages like Spanish, English, Italian, Greek, Arabic, Galician, Portuguese and occasionally in other languages. 

The audiences were also from the diverse expat communities of Dhaka. French, Spanish, Argentine and of course a great number of Bangladeshi crowd gathered to enjoy the essence of alternative Latin music. 

The duo was joined by Bangladeshi multi-percussionist Mithun Chakrabarty whose performance escalated the event even more. The concert was so hard-hearted that the audience forgot to sit on their seats because they were mostly busy dancing. 

"Our music brought us together. We could not practice together even for more than half an hour just before the concert, yet, we synced so well and gave our best to the crowd," Mithun said while speaking to The Business Standard.

"Performing with him was a great experience," the percussionist added. 

Despite Manu Chao's multiple attempts to end the show, it lasted two and a half hours. This depicts how much the audience loved his performance. 

After the show, Manu Chao expressed his amusement to The Business Standard saying, "You never know what to expect when you are doing a show in a new country. This is my first time in Bangladesh and I must say this was an uphill experience. The crowd was so great. Thank you, Dhaka. Thank you so much!" 

Manu Chao's first concert in Dhaka proved that music cannot be bound by language. Everybody in the hall bonded over the same tune. 

On March 10, Manu Chao and his partner toured around the University of Dhaka where they performed briefly on the university streets.