Maná to Perform for President Obama in What is the Band's Biggest Year Ever

Sept. 28, 2012— -- Is Maná having its biggest year ever? It's hard to argue otherwise, with all the headlines they're making in recent weeks.

This Sunday, Sept. 30, the veteran Mexican rockers – Fher Olvera, Alex Gonzalez, Sergio Vallin, and Juan Calleros – will perform at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas for President Barack Obama's campaign rally.

The band was in Sin City recently, celebrating Mexican Independence Day, a.k.a "El Grito," and surely indulged in some routine tequila toasting (they are from Guadalajara, Jalisco, the birthplace of tequila, after all.) Many years ago, at a concert backstage, as we all enjoyed their favorite traditional on-the-road dish, tortas ahogadas, the boys told me they like to drink a no-name tequila made "by an 80-year-old man, when the moon is full."

"Watch out, cause the effects are dangerous," they warned. I was intrigued.

On Tuesday, Maná received the news that they're nominated for a Latin Grammy (Record of the Year, "Hasta Que Te Conoci"), potentially adding to their hardware collection (four Grammys, seven Latin Grammys to date).

Earlier this month, the band left their handprints alongside other guitar gods like Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana as part of Guitar Center's induction into its historic RockWalk on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles.

On October 5, they'll close out the tour in support of their 11th album, Drama y Luz, at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City.

The band celebrated another milestone back in April at the Staples Center, when, with their latest concert at the L.A. venue, they brought their career total there to 11 sold-out shows - more than any other musical act, regardless of language (yep, even Britney Spears!).

We were there.

"All that Maná has done is worked and made songs that talk and communicate to people about their dreams and problems for Latinos," drummer Alex told us back then. "It took us so, so much work to get to where we are at now. We will never forget our humble beginnings."

Around the same time as their Staples Center record-setting, The New York Times wrote a cover story in their Arts section about the band, with the headline "redefining crossover in Latin pop" - a little late, but better late than never.

As if they weren't ubiquitous enough, they also pop up on Draco Rosa's comeback single, Penelope. Fans of Draco's original version don't seem to be feeling this one as much, but you be the judge.

However you feel about Maná's music – all these years (they go back to 1986, and even before then, if you count their time as Sombrero Verde), they haven't altered their formula in the least - you can't deny they're making power moves. And with more than 30 million albums sold, they must be doing something right besides using the words like corazon and mariposa like they're going to expire.