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Interview With Fher Olvera, Alex Gonzalez

Aired October 20, 2003 - 15:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well they're often referred to as Latin America's U2. One of Latin rock's most popular bands. These Grammy-winning musicians are not only inspired to write and sing about their culture and history, but you'll always find a message within. Poetic expressions of love, justice and freedom.
Earlier this month, Mana received their 13th Grammy nomination with "Revolucion de Amor." It was nominated for best Latin rock alternative album. They've been named goodwill ambassadors to the U.N. Lead vocalist Fher Olvera and drummer Alex Gonzalez are on tour. They stop by to talk with us today.

Welcome, bienvenidos.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: First of all, this is so fascinating. We even have video from the U.N. Let's talk about you becoming these goodwill ambassadors. Tell me about Selva Negra.

ALEX GONZALEZ, MANA: Well Selva Negra is an nonprofit organization that Fher founded back in 1995. And basically what Selva Negra does is inform on one hand and act on the other. We've done a lot of things in Latin America, planting trees. We've donated food, we've tried to protect endangered species all over Latin America including our own Mexico.

So it's a pretty cool way of doing music but at the same time informing and helping the environment.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about informing. You are very environmentally conscious. Fher, you're also very conscious socially. A lot of your songs talk about liberty and justice. Kind of echoes zapatistas and the indigenous Mexican people. You are sort of like the U2 of Latin America. Very socially conscious.

FHER OLVERA, MANA: Well we're trying to put our little grain of -- we want change around the world but we think we can inspire the young people and Latin Americans (UNINTELLIGIBLE) or whatever to try to put (UNINTELLIGIBLE) little grain of (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

We're talking about the other day about -- we didn't learn from the school or our families or from the church about...

(CROSSTALK)

OLVERA: We learned from these issues...

PHILLIPS: You grew up through this.

GONZALEZ: Yes, we learn more through musicians, actually. We learned more about the environment and human rights through Sting, Bono, John Lennon. More than politicians. Carlos Santana.

PHILLIPS: Carlos Santana, he loves you guys. Tell us about that relationship.

GONZALEZ: Carlos, he wanted to work with us. He heard our "Suenos Liguidos" album. And he said, Man, I'd love to work with you guys. So he gave Fernando a call and Fher wrote this great song called "Corazon Espinado" that appears on the "Supernatural" album. And that was a huge hit for us in Europe. And we got a chance to tour with him. If he's seeing us on here, Hey, Carlos, what's up?

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Well, talk to me about why, the crossover, you're not just in Mexico and touring around. You're going around the world and all colors, all cultures love you. Why is that?

GONZALEZ: Well, you know, for us music is universal. It doesn't have to be sung in one language or another. In Latin America we've been listen to rock in English the past 40 years and sometimes you don't even understand here in the states what they're singing about.

So for us to bring our culture and our history and our lyrics and our social problems and our dreams, and to sing about -- one gentleman here told us he learned Spanish in his class through Mana songs. That's amazing.

We might do something in English in the future, maybe not an all English album. But if we do it, it's because we have the necessity to share the things that we dream about and things that we worry about, human rights, the environment and other issues that for us are very important.

PHILLIPS: And the tortuga, the turtles. Tell us about that.

OLVERA: Well we have three turtles' camps in the Pacific Coast. We released in six years 1 million baby turtles to the sea, to the ocean. And it's really cool, this program, because we are taking little kids to see the turtles. So we think that in the future, the people who can save this political (ph) situation is the kids, no, the children.

GONZALEZ: The new generation.

OLVERA: The new generation.

PHILLIPS: So when you meet with kids, you guys are so down to earth. A lot of times you hook up with these rock bands. You don't have a lot of time for the kids anymore. But you guys make a big effort to spend time and sign autographs and be role models. I'm having a feeling that maybe Mama was a really good influence in your lives.

(LAUGHTER)

GONZALEZ: Well, you know, I think our parents...

PHILLIPS: I know the Latin culture. Mama's the boss. El jefe.

GONZALEZ: Yes, our parents always supported us. Another thing that -- we always dreamed about being a successful band. And if we would become successful, what would we do? That's why bands like U2 we respect so much. We had the opportunity to be with Bono in Modena in Italy with Pavarotti and friends. We had the same kind of chemistry. Maybe there's a chance in the future that we might collaborate musically and at the same time with issues that we told them anything you need we'll back you up 100 percent.

PHILLIPS: All right, you guys are on tour, this is the new album, "Revolucion de Amor."

GONZALEZ: By the way, a greatest hits album coming out in November. Three CDs, one is called "Sun," "Moon" and "Eclipse." It's the essential Mana, it's all the greatest hits of our history plus a new track that we recorded. It's called "Te llevare al Cielo." It's a great song and see you on tour.

PHILLIPS: Well, I got the best tease. How about as we go into break here, Fher, sing a little acappella for us as we head to break.

OLVERA: (speaking in Spanish)

GONZALEZ: (Speaking in Spanish)

OLVERA: Bueno. It's a little piece of a song called (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

PHILLIPS: Serenade us.

OLVERA: My drums.

PHILLIPS: There you go.

(SINGING)

PHILLIPS: All right. Mana, muchas gracias.

GONZALEZ: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: What a pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 20, 2003 - 15:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well they're often referred to as Latin America's U2. One of Latin rock's most popular bands. These Grammy-winning musicians are not only inspired to write and sing about their culture and history, but you'll always find a message within. Poetic expressions of love, justice and freedom.
Earlier this month, Mana received their 13th Grammy nomination with "Revolucion de Amor." It was nominated for best Latin rock alternative album. They've been named goodwill ambassadors to the U.N. Lead vocalist Fher Olvera and drummer Alex Gonzalez are on tour. They stop by to talk with us today.

Welcome, bienvenidos.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: First of all, this is so fascinating. We even have video from the U.N. Let's talk about you becoming these goodwill ambassadors. Tell me about Selva Negra.

ALEX GONZALEZ, MANA: Well Selva Negra is an nonprofit organization that Fher founded back in 1995. And basically what Selva Negra does is inform on one hand and act on the other. We've done a lot of things in Latin America, planting trees. We've donated food, we've tried to protect endangered species all over Latin America including our own Mexico.

So it's a pretty cool way of doing music but at the same time informing and helping the environment.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about informing. You are very environmentally conscious. Fher, you're also very conscious socially. A lot of your songs talk about liberty and justice. Kind of echoes zapatistas and the indigenous Mexican people. You are sort of like the U2 of Latin America. Very socially conscious.

FHER OLVERA, MANA: Well we're trying to put our little grain of -- we want change around the world but we think we can inspire the young people and Latin Americans (UNINTELLIGIBLE) or whatever to try to put (UNINTELLIGIBLE) little grain of (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

We're talking about the other day about -- we didn't learn from the school or our families or from the church about...

(CROSSTALK)

OLVERA: We learned from these issues...

PHILLIPS: You grew up through this.

GONZALEZ: Yes, we learn more through musicians, actually. We learned more about the environment and human rights through Sting, Bono, John Lennon. More than politicians. Carlos Santana.

PHILLIPS: Carlos Santana, he loves you guys. Tell us about that relationship.

GONZALEZ: Carlos, he wanted to work with us. He heard our "Suenos Liguidos" album. And he said, Man, I'd love to work with you guys. So he gave Fernando a call and Fher wrote this great song called "Corazon Espinado" that appears on the "Supernatural" album. And that was a huge hit for us in Europe. And we got a chance to tour with him. If he's seeing us on here, Hey, Carlos, what's up?

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Well, talk to me about why, the crossover, you're not just in Mexico and touring around. You're going around the world and all colors, all cultures love you. Why is that?

GONZALEZ: Well, you know, for us music is universal. It doesn't have to be sung in one language or another. In Latin America we've been listen to rock in English the past 40 years and sometimes you don't even understand here in the states what they're singing about.

So for us to bring our culture and our history and our lyrics and our social problems and our dreams, and to sing about -- one gentleman here told us he learned Spanish in his class through Mana songs. That's amazing.

We might do something in English in the future, maybe not an all English album. But if we do it, it's because we have the necessity to share the things that we dream about and things that we worry about, human rights, the environment and other issues that for us are very important.

PHILLIPS: And the tortuga, the turtles. Tell us about that.

OLVERA: Well we have three turtles' camps in the Pacific Coast. We released in six years 1 million baby turtles to the sea, to the ocean. And it's really cool, this program, because we are taking little kids to see the turtles. So we think that in the future, the people who can save this political (ph) situation is the kids, no, the children.

GONZALEZ: The new generation.

OLVERA: The new generation.

PHILLIPS: So when you meet with kids, you guys are so down to earth. A lot of times you hook up with these rock bands. You don't have a lot of time for the kids anymore. But you guys make a big effort to spend time and sign autographs and be role models. I'm having a feeling that maybe Mama was a really good influence in your lives.

(LAUGHTER)

GONZALEZ: Well, you know, I think our parents...

PHILLIPS: I know the Latin culture. Mama's the boss. El jefe.

GONZALEZ: Yes, our parents always supported us. Another thing that -- we always dreamed about being a successful band. And if we would become successful, what would we do? That's why bands like U2 we respect so much. We had the opportunity to be with Bono in Modena in Italy with Pavarotti and friends. We had the same kind of chemistry. Maybe there's a chance in the future that we might collaborate musically and at the same time with issues that we told them anything you need we'll back you up 100 percent.

PHILLIPS: All right, you guys are on tour, this is the new album, "Revolucion de Amor."

GONZALEZ: By the way, a greatest hits album coming out in November. Three CDs, one is called "Sun," "Moon" and "Eclipse." It's the essential Mana, it's all the greatest hits of our history plus a new track that we recorded. It's called "Te llevare al Cielo." It's a great song and see you on tour.

PHILLIPS: Well, I got the best tease. How about as we go into break here, Fher, sing a little acappella for us as we head to break.

OLVERA: (speaking in Spanish)

GONZALEZ: (Speaking in Spanish)

OLVERA: Bueno. It's a little piece of a song called (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

PHILLIPS: Serenade us.

OLVERA: My drums.

PHILLIPS: There you go.

(SINGING)

PHILLIPS: All right. Mana, muchas gracias.

GONZALEZ: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: What a pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com