My daughter has decided to take Spanish next year, and I have vowed to learn it with her. While I would personally prefer French or Italian, especially since I already have a base there… Spanish is definitely practical. Then I could really understand this record… plus I would be able to order so well in may of LA’s restaurants!
Until I saw a story on the news the other night, about their record-breaking run at the Staples Center, I had never heard of Maná.
They are “a Mexican rock band from Guadalajara, Jalisco, whose career has spanned more than three decades. The group has earned four Grammy Awards, seven Latin Grammy Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards Latin America”, etc.
“The band formed in 1986 and released its first album, Falta Amor, in 1990. In 1992, the group released ¿Dónde Jugarán Los Niños?, which sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, becoming best-selling Spanish-language rock album of all time. After several lineup changes, the group released Cuando los Ángeles Lloran, which is noted for its stylistic departure from the band’s previous work. Maná followed with Sueños Líquidos (1997), Revolución de Amor (2002), and Amar es Combatir (2007), which continued the group’s success. The band’s most recent album, Drama y Luz, was released in April 2011.”
I decided to focus on their most recent release…
Maná – Drama Y Luz
AllMusic says: They “continue to evolve their hard rock sound, bringing in influences like the Foo Fighters and pop.”
The first song reminds me of Zucchero. Fher Olvera’s vocals are very similar, at least on this track.
The rest of the record is a nice mix of rock and pop and I am quite enjoying it. While I do not know enough of their music to discern the stylistic transition, I’ll go with AllMusic saying “Mana’s growth might not be to every fan’s taste, but with the same heart and same conviction as always, this mature and sometimes softer effort feels like a natural progression.”
I was in Florence the first time I heard Zucchero and was immediately smitten. I asked the woman whose shop we were in who was playing and she looked at me like I was crazy. I would learn later how famous he actually was… the Italian Springsteen…
He followed me throughout the city… I literally heard him at least three more times in different shops… and so I bought his CD, the first “import” I actually bought in the place it came from… of course, it was not an import in Florence!
It made me feel… exotic… cool.
I remember being in Club Med in Ixtapa and having one of the counselors from the kids camp burn me a CD of Spanish and Latin music… I loved what they were playing and my daughter seemed to really dig it, too. I felt exotic then… and especially cool when I brought the tunes back and played them for friends here.
While I did not discover Maná in some exotic locale on some exotic trip (Yes, I am purposely overusing the word exotic), I still feel pretty… well… extraordinary, glamorous, alluring… (Yes, I did check the thesaurus).
I hope you will, too. Their music is really good! And if you do not know Zucchero… He is all over Spotify and I think you will fall as fast and as hard as I did. He was at the House of Blues years ago and we went to see him… us and a room full of Italian ex-pats… It was awesome. I have never seen so many Italian football jerseys outside of a World Cup match!
Gusta la música!!!
