Mano Negra incorporated an impressive array of musical styles: punk rock, folk, flamenco, ska, salsa, French chanson, hip hop, raï, rockabilly, reggae and African rhythms.
[4] This omnivorous approach, based on absorption and combination of a broad range of styles and sounds, was termed patchanka by the group (literally "patchwork", and the name of their first album).
Taking Paris by storm in the winter of 1988–9, Mano Negra was touring the world by the following spring, achieving mainstream success in most of Europe and South America and recording a live album in Japan.
("[H]aving transported a street of Paris [sic] across the Atlantic is a marvel [una maravilla]", commented Gabriel García Márquez who visited the attraction.)
Frontman Manu Chao went on to have a successful solo career, bringing some of Casa Babylon's songs to the stage with his group Radio Bemba Sound System.
Ramón, the father of the Chao brothers, a political exilee of the Francoist dictatorship in Spain living in France, explained to Manu the historical origins of the name which referred to an alleged secret, anarchist organization persecuted by the government.
After the recording, the group dissolved temporarily, with three members participating in other projects: Manu in Les Casse Pieds, Antoine with The Kingsnakes and Los Carayos with Santi.
The album contains songs previously written by Manu Chao and featuring Dirty District along with other musicians from Les Casse Pieds, Hot Pants and Los Carayos.
Pierre Gauthe, trombone, joined as the eighth member of the group, and they went on tour to Latin America, choosing countries like Peru or Ecuador that were unaccustomed to hosting foreign rock bands and causing a sensation by performing free concerts in auditoriums and public places.
Recording concluded on Puta's Fever, considered one of the best albums of the group, which mixes Tex-Mex ("Patchuko Hop"), Arabic songs ("Sidi H'Bibi"), flamenco, etc.
The tour, which lasted nearly five months and visited countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Cuba, Ecuador, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina and featured free performances in public places, witnessed the weakening of the group.
In July 1992, in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Mano Negra gave its last concert with all original members, preceded by an incident on the television program La TV ataca where the keyboard player broke a monitor.
In 1995, Manu Chao and other members of the band wanted to continue to offer concerts in Madrid but, due to the restriction on the use of the former name of the group, had to do so as "Radio Bemba"—a project that was also ultimately dissolved.
In December 2005, the same members participated in a festival as "Mano Negra Sound System", playing the song "Sidi H'Bibi" and others, but more like DJs, as they contributed only brass and keyboards.
After the band split, Manu Chao continued his solo career, always committed with political and social issues, immigration, ghettos, and injustice, sometimes releasing albums completely in Spanish, and others in French.
Tours in the United States with Mano Negra were not as successful as elsewhere and Chao seems inclined to focus his efforts in the places where his musical style finds its roots.
Though his live performances in the U.S. are infrequent, Chao played a handful of dates there in 2006, including a headline show at Lollapalooza 2006 in Chicago, IL, "Celebrate Brooklyn" in 2007, and at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland to a sellout crowd on 23 June 2007.