v-me

Transcript

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They're getting there.

I'm being told the audience has questions. Really?

Great.

Yes?

Great, let's see.

(Woman): My question is... I really like the song "Bendita Tu Luz". I like the fact that you mention God in it. I would like to know what kind of spiritual relationship you have, what you believe, and how you perceive God.

The four of us were raised in Catholic or Christian-Catholic families. As I got older, I changed my mind a little about my faith. My mother is still a Christian-Catholic. I respect that religion, just as I do all of the others. However, I think that God is more than what I was taught. I have great respect for nature, the sun... I feel that through nature is a better way to approach God... water, the rain. The Earth is like a mother to us. It allows us to live our lives and feeds us. When we mention God in the song, everyone can interpret it the way he likes to feel about God in his life. Understand? Any other questions? This show is very interesting. Thanks for inviting us. It is very uncommon to have this kind of interaction with the audience. It's very nice for us.

(Man): I have a question. What inspired you to create the Selva Negra organization?

It was the love we feel for our planet. We suddenly realized that Maná had thousands of fans in Latin America, Mexico and the rest of the world. So we thought, "Ok. We feel a need to leave a lasting impression. We are going to try to contribute our two cents". People like John Lennon, Bob Marley and more recently U2 and Bono, have done things that inspired us. When we were younger, we believed in what they said, and those messages of peace. I think art may have important influence on young people... I don't know... We are, as Lennon put it, just dreamers. We are dreamers. That is what we have been doing, and we are going to fight for things to change. We are going to put our two cents in, not only in ecological terms, but also regarding human rights. We are trying to work for the legalization of undocumented workers in the United States. We met with Senator Hillary Clinton and also with Al Gore, twice, talking about global warming. We try to make good use of our social networks, and we try to improve the planet a little. I think at the end of the day, when we are old, we will be able to say, "Ok, We won many awards, including Grammys, but the important thing is that we somehow contributed positively to this world. We created awareness about something that we thought was important". That is our motivation, and also the reason for the Selva Negra organization. We try hard to achieve our goals.

Is there a song from this record that has opened doors in new markets? Well, it also happened with the previous record. In places like Germany, Italy and Japan, where they don't speak Spanish, What song has opened up those markets for you?

We were very lucky to be a part of the Supernatural album by Carlos Santana. He invited us. Fher has to tell you that story. It is so great, how he met Santana.

I feel there are several songs. For example, when we played in Germany, where they don't understand Spanish at all, and we start to sing, say... "El muelle de San Blas" They don't understand the lyrics, and I would love for them to be able to understand the song. It's a shame. So people start paying a lot of attention to the instruments, how the bass or the guitar goes or how they intertwine with the voice. People request those songs and they become hits on the radio. I mean, "El muelle de San Blas" was also a hit in Italy, and people didn't understand the lyrics very well.

Yes, It is so amazing how music crosses language barriers.

Yes, it does. We are about to take a break. Do you have a couple of verses you can play before we finish this segment?

What part?

That is why I was saying he does it on "play back".

[laughing]

He's a good guitar player. Tell him to play something classical later on, ok?

Ah, ah, ah, corazón espinado, cómo duele, me duele mamá. Ah, ah, ah, cómo me duele el amor. Y cómo duele, cómo duele el corazón cuando uno es bien entregado, pero no olvides mujer que algún día dirás ay ay ay, cómo me duele el amor. Ah, ah, ay, corazón espinado. Cómo duele, me duele mamá. Ah, ah, ah, cómo me duele el amor.

Ha, ha, ha. Great! Stay tuned. We'll be back in a few minutes with more from Maná and with the story behind "Corazón Espinado".

Can we go to the bathroom now?

[laughing]

Like a teacher...

Carlos Santana, the guitarist? The one from Autlán, Jalisco? He answered, "Yes, my brother. I'm sorry to bother you. Someone gave me your phone number." I told my mom, "Mom! It's Carlos Santana!"

[clapping]

We continue talking on Estudio Billboard with Maná. We were listening to the stories behind some of the thousands of collaborations they have worked on. Without a doubt, "Corazón Espinado" is one of the most famous. What is the story behind it?

Well, we grew up listening to Santana. When we were kids, he was our greatest idol. We always followed Carlos' career. He is a great guitar player. Out of the blue, maybe in 2000, I got a phone call at home. I answered, and I said, "Hello, who's this?" He said, "This is Carlos." I asked, "Carlos who?" He replied, "Carlos Santana". I thought it was a prank call.

[laughing]

And he said, "Hey brother, this is Carlos Santana". I was speechless. His voice sounded a little different because he doesn't speak Spanish very much anymore. So I asked, "Carlos Santana, the guitarist? The one from Autlán, Jalisco?" He answered, "Yes, my brother. I'm sorry to bother you. Someone gave me your phone number". I couldn't believe it. I told my mom, "Mom! It's Carlos Santana!"

[laughing]

He said he would love to invite me to sing a song for his new album. He invited me to San Francisco. I answered, "Brother, I will go wherever you ask me to go. It would be a pleasure to sing with you". He told me, "Hey, would you like to play a song together?" I replied, "I would love to". He said Maná would be playing the song, and he would be playing the requinto. I told him it would be my pleasure. We talked about doing something like... We were in a revolutionary mood in those days, involved in the Zapatista movement, and especially pro-Mexican Indian movements, I had gotten involved with those causes. I called him and said, "Carlos, we arranged it with the band, and it sounds great!" Then, the song was not... I don't want to talk much about it, but I don't know. His office was kind of blocking our work. I don't know what was going on, but the song didn't make it through. A friend of ours named Peter Lopez took the phone and talked to the guy in production, and told him, "Listen, this song is really good. The people from Maná have arranged it. Here's the demo. Tell us if you like it." When Carlos heard it, he said, "Hey, come here and record it." It was really interesting because he had been selling 500,000 or 300,000 copies of every one of his records. I told him, "Hey brother, this is going to sell several million". I thought we would sell about two million copies. I said, "Knock on wood!" I told him that my royalties, as the author of the song, would be donated to the Mexican Indians. I had already talked to Carlos about it. He said, "I hope we can make it work." Well, that record sold 32 million copies in Indonesia, Asia, Australia, Europe... everywhere in the world. They all knew the song called "Corazón Espinado". As Alex was saying, that song made us popular there.

The ice breaker. During this conversation, I have started learning things I didn't know about you. For example, Sergio is a classical guitarist, and he has composed classical music. He is going to play something for us.

That is so nice! Those unknown aspects... I'm being told there are a couple of questions over here.

(woman): How did you meet each other? How did you start to play together? How did you decide to do this?

I was going to ask the same thing. How did you become a member of Maná?

Ha, ha, ha. Do you want to know if you can join us? We had a band before Maná called Sombrero Verde. We even recorded two CD's. They must be around somewhere. We sang rock in Spanish when no one else would do it. We recorded in '80 and '83... ...'81 and 83. There was Juanito, the bass player, and his brothers, Ulises and Abraham. They had a monopoly going on! There was another very talented guitar player named Gustavo Orozco. We used to call him "Gus Orozco". We started searching and trying to find a drummer as good as the one we had originally. And we found Alex, but he was very young. Were you 15, 16?

15.

We put an ad in the newspaper. It was hard to meet our criteria: "Drummer wanted. Must be under 20 and have more than 10 years of experience."

[laughing]

And I really liked the idea that he was Cuban-Colombian because I wanted to change from Sombrero Verde to Maná. I wanted to make our music evolve and create an original rock sound, with a stronger Latin American feeling because that is what we are. I didn't want to copy American or English bands. So I said, "We would be a good combination with this drummer". That was in '84. Later, a long time ago, there were two other musicians who left the band. They recorded ¿Dónde jugarán los niños? There was Iván el Vampiro. Later, in '93 or '94, Sergio joined the band. He stayed as the guitar player. This is a good story. I was given one of his demos. He was also very young. How old were you?

22.

We liked his personality, and he was a good guitar player. So we said, "He's in!" To make a long story short, that's how we got together.

All of you have children. How has your perception of music and your work changed?

In my case, well and also in Juan's case... your daughter is 14. Isn't she?

Yes, she's 14.

We both have children who are 14.

You started very early.

Very early.

You were 21, right? I was 20.

Sergio ate the cake...

[laughing]

He says he only put the ham...

[laughing]

Right now the youngest baby is Fher's. He is the youngest of the Maná family.

Yes, he's two months old...

And you told me that you have always been surrounded by women. Now you have a man.

Yes, exactly, Dalí. He is a beautiful baby. I just talked to my sister, and she told me that he is well behaved. I am very happy. I was thrilled. I told my friends on the day he was going to be born, I asked the hospital's manager for permission to record the birth. It was in Guadalajara's hospital. She said, "Sure. No problem." So, three hours before the procedure I arrived with an entire production crew, with cranes and camera men. At the hospital, they told me, "No, hold on. This is surgery". It was a caesarean section. I had to talk the director into allowing me to take all of that stuff into the delivery room. Everything was recorded, and it was a wonderful experience. It was recorded with four different cameras. I am working on postproduction now. [joking]

Your woman is a saint. Stay tuned. We'll be back with more "Estudio Billboard" and the story behind Maná.

[clapping]

Cómo quisiera poder vivir sin aire. Cómo quisiera calmar mi aflicción....

[clapping]

We continue talking with the band Maná. We are here on stage with the fifth member of Maná. He is their manager, Angelo Medina. Welcome, Angelo.

Good afternoon. You just called me the fifth member of Maná! I earned this position in a very short time! It's about time!

For those of you who don't know, Angelo was the manager of Ricky Martin for many years. One day he called me, and said that he was not going to be a manager anymore. He wanted to get some rest and dedicate himself to his family. Three months later, he called me again and said, "Hey, I'm going to be the manager of Maná." So I said, "Is that all the vacation you needed?"

Well, life depends on the here and now. Sometimes you have to change your decisions. I have always respected the artistic and professional work done by Maná. So, it wasn't difficult for me. It was easy, and I feel really good about it. This is an important part of my career, a very important part.

You were in the world of music during a golden era where records sold easily. Then you took on this hugely popular band at a time when the industry was going through a crisis. What was the greatest challenge? What did you do differently that allowed them to face the industry's situation?

The only thing I did was show people that there is a large amount of work behind their music. The most recent thing we have done is to get the new generations interested in a band that has had a very long career. We want them to know what good music is.

He has taken Maná to a higher level. We were just mentioning that Maná has just had four performances at the Staples Center, a wonderful venue in Los Angeles. They were four concerts in a row, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There are also going to be three concerts here in Miami at the American Airlines Arena. There will be three on this tour. There will also be three performances in Madison Square Garden in New York, and three at the Toyota Center in Houston.

Also, three performances at Estadio Vélez in Buenos Aires. We have broken every record.

Angelo has said, "I've got this". He has not overexposed our band. It has been very wise of him not to do that, and he says, "We are going to let people listen to Maná, and everyone will know them without overexposing the band". It has been interesting work. He has a lot of experience. He started when he was very young, too. He was included in the Guinness Book of World Records as one of the three most important managers in the history of music.

We were trying to convince him to work with us.

I'm sorry to interrupt, brother. I used to tell, "We have a very good album, and it is a shame that some songs are going to be left out again, right?" Alex would reply, "Let's try to convince Angelo Medina to come help us." I replied, "No. The thing is... He will make us work our socks off!" Alex said, "Let´s talk to the guy". I said "No, no, no!" I was afraid of Angelo Medina.

We have become a wonderful team because we all bring in new ideas. For him, the work load has been reduced. It is still a large amount of work, but it is not as stressful as it was before.

Well, he even sent you to the hospital, right?

Ha, ha, ha.

Stay there. Stay there. I want you to stay right there. Up next, we will have a section called the Billboard Top 20. I ask the questions and you have to answer right away, without thinking. Right away. Since there are four of you, each of you is going to answer five questions. Queen or The Who?

Queen.

What poster did you have in your room when you were 15?

Mick Jagger.

Sofía Loren or Marilyn Monroe?

Sofía Loren.

Betty or Wilma?

Wilma.

[laughing]

Pedro was hard to handle.

[laughing]

What do you keep in the drawer of your nightstand?

An alarm clock.

What is the strangest rumor you have heard about the band?

That we are gay.

Ha ha ha, No! The sexiest woman in rock today?

In rock? Christina Aguilera.

Ok. What is the biggest lie you have ever told during an interview?

That I wasn't drunk the night before the interview.

[laughing]

Describe your perfect night.

Mmm... A woman, a guitar, and wine.

Ok. Two records you would take with you to a deserted island... only two.

Abbey Road by The Beatles and... Which one? A record called So by Peter Gabriel.

Ok. What song makes you cry?

There isn't a single one.

No. What do you spend your money on?

On music.

What would you give Juan Luis Guerra as a present?

A Christ.

And what would you give Carlos Santana?

A guitar.

Shakira?

I would give Shakira a shirt.

And Daddy Yankee?

More bling-bling. Bling-bling, jewelry, the diamonds, the Rolex and...

Do you sleep with or without pajamas?

I sleep with my underwear on.

What is it that men will never understand about women?

Why they get so angry.

Ha ha ha, Your worst fault?

Mmm... I don't talk much.

Ha ha, Your best virtue?

I am very social.

Most treasured possession?

Material one?

Yes.

My guitar.

What are you afraid of?

Craziness.

Something you always take with you.

A watch.

Your favorite vice.

Vodka tonic.

Ok! You have passed the test. Congratulations!

[laughing and clapping]

Bravo, bravo. The show is almost over. I wonder if you could say goodbye with a little piece from one of those memorable songs...

Which one do you want?

Something that has made us cry.

"Vivir sin aire."

Vivir sin aire" would make me really happy.

"Vivir sin aire"

Let's give it up for Angelo.

Let's give it up for Angelo.

Everyone! Let's sing!

One, two, three...

*Cómo quisiera poder vivir sin aíre.

Cómo quisiera poder vivir sin agua.

Me encantaría quererte un poco menos.

Como quisiera yo poder vivir sin ti.*

Everyone. Let's sing the chorus.

*Pero no puedo, siento que muero, me estoy ahogando sin tu amor. Cómo quisiera poder vivir sin aíre. Cómo quisiera calmar mi aflicción. Cómo quisiera poder vivir sin agua, Me encantaría robar tu corazón. Oh, oh, oh.

Uh, uuuuh.*

Bravo!

[clapping]

Thank you very much... for being here on the show, for sharing with us, and for taking this little break in the middle of a hectic tour. I also want to thank all of you who joined us with Maná in the studio. See you soon.

THE END

Maná in Estudio Billboard [1] [2]