Spanish band embarks on new territory
By Andrew Wenzlaff
April 21, 2004 9:00 p.m.
Correction appended
For Frank Rudow,German-born multi-instrumentalist of the Spanish
rock band Manta Ray, April 14 was the longest day in his life.
After touching down from a 34-hour flight from Europe, Rudow found
himself surrounded by the greenery and suburbs of Oregon, excited
to be in the Western Hemisphere for the first time to begin the
band’s first U.S. tour. The last point of the tour’s
West Coast leg lands at UCLA’s Cooperage on Friday night.
“I woke up at six this morning and had a walk through the
neighborhood,” said Rudow, vacillating between English and
Spanish in a thick German accent. “Everything is so new for
me. Everything is looking like “˜The Simpsons’ for me.
The neighborhood here is like this typical (American) town. It was
like, “˜Look, the house of Flanders.'”
It seems appropriate that Manta Ray ““ a band that for 12
years has been writing lyrics in English and whose members love
American music, from artists like Johnny Cash, Tortoise, Van
Morrison and Sonic Youth ““ is finally setting foot on
American soil. But despite its popularity in Europe, the band
members have no idea how their musical style will be received in
the United States.
Manta Ray’s music expresses sincere emotions like rage and
frustration from anger over painful or complicated current events,
like the recent terrorist bombing in Madrid, Spain. The
band’s latest release, “Estratexa,” reacts
emotionally to such issues like the war in Iraq and the massive oil
spill that occurred in 2002 near the band’s home base,
Asturias, Spain.
Asturias is a region in Northern Spain, which like Oregon, is
perennially rainy and green. But unlike Oregon, Asturias has its
own 2,000-year-old language, Asturiano, which has been fighting to
make a comeback in art and literature since the death of the
repressive Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. Manta Ray
does its part to save Asturiano by titling a handful of songs in
this language, which bears some resemblance to Castilian Spanish.
Even their album title, “Estratexa,” is the the
Asturian word for strategy.
“In this record we thought about situations not only in
Asturias, but in the whole world as well. There are a lot of wars,
and for us that’s really disgusting,” said Rudow.
“It produced a situation of rage (which was expressed) in our
way of using instruments.”
Manta Ray is a politically minded quartet, but its political
stances are not explicitly stated in its music. On the contrary,
the band’s musical landscapes are meant to give liberty to
listeners to make their own interpretations. For example,
“Estratexa” includes an instrumental track titled
“Rosa Parks,” which, aside from the title, includes no
words about the famous American civil rights advocate; it is simply
inspired by and dedicated to her.
Although the majority of the compositions are wordless, the
occasional lyrics are in Spanish or English. The use of two
languages is done primarily as an artistic technique.
“The words are like another instrument that we put over
the music, but it’s not the most important (thing) in our
music,” said Rudow.
In both the songs and performance, what is expressed verbally
comes second to what is communicated musically. Rudow noted that he
enjoys “funny guy” bands that joke with the audience,
but this style never worked for Manta Ray, whose emotional and
complex compositions require the utmost sobriety of attitude. The
band sometimes looks frozen onstage, lost in intense
concentration.
Rudow said that Spanish audiences accept what the band is doing,
even if they don’t understand the references. He added that
he is looking forward to beginning the tour in the United States,
meeting American people, and seeing how audiences over here
respond.
“I hope that the audience will be open-minded,” said
Rudow.
Correction: April 26, 2004, Monday
The photograph accompanying “Spanish band embarks on new
territory” was not of rock band Manta Ray.
