Having formed in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1986, the quartet of Fher Olvera, Alex González, Sergio Vallín andJuan Calleros have gone on to be global envoys for the Latin Rock genre. Here in the United States, Maná sold an impressive nine #1 albums and ten #1 singles-more than any other band in the history of Billboard’s “HotLatin Songs” chart. Maná is also unquestionably the top-drawing all-Spanish language concert band in the U.S.with The New York Times declaring the group has: “Redefined ‘Crossover’ in Latin Pop… with its mix of love songs and more pointed political material about immigration and the environment, Maná has a mass appeal-nearly unrivaled in the Latin pop world.
Conversation with Fher – Lead singer.
Fher, can you share with CHIC how Maná started and how you became the most iconic Spanish Rock band?
I feel we have a very nice and inspirational story. Maná is a Rock band that came from a lower middle-class neighborhood in Guadalajara, Mexico. We just wanted to have fun and play in our city and somehow this expanded all over the world. We started very humbly, we used to travel in a VW Kombi, going from bar to bar to the main cities in the center of the country.
We grew organically and slowly, little by little. In 1987 we launched our first single simply titled “Maná”. Two years later came “Missing Love”, from which the single “Rayando el Sol” emerged and with which the band became known at a nationwide level.
Three years later we launched “Where Will Children Play?” Material with which we achieved unprecedented success and became an obligatory reference in the Latin American rock scene thanks to the single “Living Without Air”, “Hear My Love”, “From Feet to Head” and “Me Vale”, among others. Our tours covered all the countries of Latin America and Europe, where we received the invitation to participate in the prestigious Montreux International Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
The album that followed was “Love revolution”, which contained “Treacherous Butterfly”, “You are my Religion”, “Angel of Love” amongst others. After this album we had the opportunity to record in Miami and that was where I fell in love with this beautiful city because it is the only place in the U.S. with beautiful beaches. Also, a large part of the album “Burning bed” was made in Miami, another part in Mexico and another part in Spain.
Fher, where does the name Maná come from and how do you identify with it?
The name of Maná means positive energy in Polynesian. It is the mana that falls from the sky but also in almost all cultures it talks about an energy that gives, that springs, that is offered.
And this is what we do as a band, we offer people what we do from a very special place, almost heavenly.
Where has music taken you and what do you enjoy the most?
As a Mexican rock band music has taken us to travel the world. It is an honor to bring our music to many countries because practically we have fans all over the American Continent. We really like going to South America; Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and Colombia especially. We love visiting all of Central America, obviously Mexico and the Caribbean and we have also a very special connection to Latinos here in the United States.
We did a very large tour called “Rayando el sol”. We did 35 full capacity dates, breaking the record of 7 sold outs at The Forum in Los Angeles. That is more than any artist or band has accomplished in any language in that venue. That also speaks of the great work we’ve done and how well we are positioned in the taste of especially young people. We are really proud to know the message we deliver is being accepted so well.
What are your goals in the near future?
Well, for some time now I have been saying that we do not have a fixed goal. We know we want to go back to Europe. We want to go to Japan because we’ve never gone there. We want to go back to Israel because we really enjoyed it. But more than having goals, we want to continue enjoying the journey.
There is no place to which to arrive if there is no path to enjoy. That is what Maná does; we are not a trendy group, we are a group that likes to flow in the river of life, in the river of music, in the river of sensations. Our mission in life and music is our work. As the composer José Alfredo Jiménez said: you don’t have to get there first, you just have to know how to get there.
