Almas Rebeldes

Sudaka is a racial slur for ‘South American,’ used as often ironically as pejoratively. With this album of upbeat, cumbia-influenced rabble- rousing numbers, this quartet of Barcelona-based ÉmigrÉ Argentinians and Colombians pay tribute to the fusioneering tropes and anti-establishment schtick of the one and only Manu Chao. If this sounds like a wholly derivative enterprise, let's not forget that JosÉ-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao was a musical plunderer par excellence; pastiche has defined his career. Blending hip-hop, reggae, rock riffs and ska into accordion-led rhythms, and supported by a legion of collaborators – including Amparo Sánchez (‘Todo Vuelve’) and Manu Chao (‘La Risa Bonita’) himself – Che Sudaka rap their way through short, sharp songs about political corruption, inner rebellion and love. Intoning in Spanish, French, Arabic, Lingala and Portuguese and citing Gandhi, Malcolm X and Facundo Cabral as they go, the group are likeably retro and lots of fun.