WEBVTT - How I Made It: Maná

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, Latino USA listener, Here's a show the Los Chivos

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<v Speaker 1>from Fudro Media and PRX. It's Latino USA. I'm Maria

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<v Speaker 1>Rosa today Spanish rock legend Manna. Over their decades long career,

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<v Speaker 1>Mana has sold over forty million albums worldwide and they

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<v Speaker 1>continue to have a devoted audience. The Grammy winning Rocqueros

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<v Speaker 1>made a name for themselves playing fusions of reggae, salsa,

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<v Speaker 1>rock and punk. The current band members include fer Orberra,

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<v Speaker 1>Alex Consalez, Sejo Bayin and Juan Caileros. Earlier this year,

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<v Speaker 1>on their latest tour, they played seven sold shows at

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<v Speaker 1>the La Forum, breaking a record previously shared by the

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<v Speaker 1>Eagles and Kanye West. But Mana didn't start out playing stadiums.

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<v Speaker 1>Over three decades ago, lead singer Fed was playing small

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<v Speaker 1>venues in Guadalajara with his band The Green Hat, and

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<v Speaker 1>he was singing in.

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<v Speaker 2>English all the time.

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<v Speaker 1>They quickly changed their names to Sombrero Verde and they

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<v Speaker 1>started singing in Spanish. They eventually added drummer Alex and

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen eighty six they became Mana. Since then, they

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<v Speaker 1>released eleven albums. Their nineteen ninety two album Donde Jugaran

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<v Speaker 1>los Minos is the best selling Spanish language rock album

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<v Speaker 1>of all time. Hola, mygal, Welcome to this morning's Walk

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<v Speaker 1>of Fame ceremony. In twenty sixteen, they became the first

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<v Speaker 1>Mexican rock band to receive a star on the Hollywood

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<v Speaker 1>Walk of Fame, and in twenty eighteen, they received the

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<v Speaker 1>Latin Music Lifetime Award from Billboard and were awarded Person

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<v Speaker 1>of the Year at the Latin Grammys. But back when

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<v Speaker 1>they were just starting out, drummer Alex Gonzalez says, it

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<v Speaker 1>wasn't all that easy for this How I made it segment.

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<v Speaker 1>Alex is going to take it from here.

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<v Speaker 2>This is Alex Gonzalez.

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<v Speaker 3>I am the drummer, one of the songwriters and producers

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<v Speaker 3>of the rocken Espanio band Manna. Before nineteen eighty six,

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<v Speaker 3>Fernando the lead singer. He had another band that was

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<v Speaker 3>called Sombrero Verdan. They were influenced by a lot of

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<v Speaker 3>the new wave stuff that was going on, especially the Police,

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<v Speaker 3>so they already had that reggae rock fusion. They wanted

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<v Speaker 3>to be a rock band, and if you look at

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<v Speaker 3>the minority of rock bands in the world, they.

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<v Speaker 2>Sing in English. You know, she's a rich girl.

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<v Speaker 3>So they were just trying to imitate their idols and

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<v Speaker 3>their bands. But then, you know, Fernando said, you know,

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<v Speaker 3>wait a minute. You know, we live in Mexico. We

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<v Speaker 3>should be singing about the things that we're concerned about,

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<v Speaker 3>or that we want to talk about, or things that

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<v Speaker 3>we love. It just made sense singing rock and Hispanoic

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<v Speaker 3>I was part of that band.

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<v Speaker 2>They were looking for a new drummer.

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<v Speaker 3>When I was fifteen years old and I moved to

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<v Speaker 3>Gualala Jada, that band, this bandedn't fed says, you know what,

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<v Speaker 3>I want to start a new band, but I want

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<v Speaker 3>to incorporate even more elements of Latin music into the pop.

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<v Speaker 2>Rock that we're doing.

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<v Speaker 3>And that's when man Now was established. Man Now is

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<v Speaker 3>a pop rock band. But the great thing about our

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<v Speaker 3>band is that we're very universal when it comes to music.

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<v Speaker 3>We could play alternative stuff, reggae rock, but we can

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<v Speaker 3>have skot punk, we can have Mexican trial music, or

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<v Speaker 3>even Cuban music, even Mariacci. We weren't trying to invent

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<v Speaker 3>the wheel. We just wanted to play what we wanted

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<v Speaker 3>to hear. We grew up with the classic rock bands,

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<v Speaker 3>I mean the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, YouTube, Pink Floyd. On

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<v Speaker 3>the other hand, you know, we were listening to Celia

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<v Speaker 3>Cruz and we were listening to Bob Marley, So I

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<v Speaker 3>think we were never afraid to try to mix it

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<v Speaker 3>within our style of music. When you're starting a new

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<v Speaker 3>band and you're starting to do these fusion it doesn't

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<v Speaker 3>always work out. And he said, well, I think there's

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<v Speaker 3>an audience out there for people that like this kind

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<v Speaker 3>of music. That's our first album had very little airplay,

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<v Speaker 3>but it was an album that to record was difficult

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<v Speaker 3>because we had a producer that obviously he believed in

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<v Speaker 3>the band, but he changed a lot of the sound

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<v Speaker 3>in the production.

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<v Speaker 2>But you know, it was the beginning of what now

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<v Speaker 2>is Wana.

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<v Speaker 3>We leave that record company and we start writing music again,

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<v Speaker 3>trying to see if there's any way, you know, if

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<v Speaker 3>getting a record deal.

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<v Speaker 2>And then one day we went to a record company.

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<v Speaker 3>The president said that we would never make it, that,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, rock and Espanol is just a fad, that

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<v Speaker 3>that type of music won't last.

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<v Speaker 2>Fed and I we came back Garry sad.

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<v Speaker 3>Fernando went downstairs and he bought two Kawama beers which

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<v Speaker 3>are like huge, huge beers. We started putting together this

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<v Speaker 3>music and Fed stayed the whole evening writing until the

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<v Speaker 3>early hours of the morning. And then when I woke up,

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<v Speaker 3>he says, hey, Alex, I have the lyrics to the song.

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<v Speaker 2>That song basically saved our career. Turned out to be.

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<v Speaker 4>Ja song.

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<v Speaker 3>The radio station started playing it and the fans started calling.

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<v Speaker 2>In those days, leases who's our manager.

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<v Speaker 3>We had the telephone number of our office, which was

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<v Speaker 3>just where Lisa's was living his bedroom with a telephone.

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<v Speaker 3>When Ryan and So started getting a lot of airplane

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<v Speaker 3>the phone started picking up, and so we started getting

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<v Speaker 3>more calls to play.

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<v Speaker 2>So we said, oh, here we go.

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<v Speaker 5>Selmar Christ.

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<v Speaker 3>It took us a long time to break into Mexico City.

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<v Speaker 2>We're from Gualalajaa.

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<v Speaker 3>In our case, Mexico City was like another country and

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<v Speaker 3>it was very hard to get in. So I said,

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<v Speaker 3>so f many, you know, but man now was doing

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<v Speaker 3>extremely well in the rest of the country. We would

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<v Speaker 3>travel in this small Volkswagen comedy and sometimes, you know,

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<v Speaker 3>we would sleep in there because we would just make

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<v Speaker 3>enough money, you know, maybe for a motel room, and

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<v Speaker 3>we flip a coin and see who's going to be

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<v Speaker 3>able to sleep in the bed. But we worked so

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<v Speaker 3>hard and we were so determined, and the buzz really

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<v Speaker 3>took off. And then when we come out with a

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<v Speaker 3>dis were with the children playing, that's when we really exploded,

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<v Speaker 3>and we did two sold out shows and at Palacelos

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<v Speaker 3>Deportis in nineteen ninety three. No Mexican band had done that.

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<v Speaker 3>When it comes out, that was like the album that

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<v Speaker 3>broke us internationally.

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<v Speaker 2>So the band went.

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<v Speaker 3>From playing clubs to now playing very big venues. From

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<v Speaker 3>there it went to baseball stadiums, football stadiums. List then

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<v Speaker 3>to cut us up, we were already dabbing into social issues.

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<v Speaker 3>We were talking about the very dire, dangerous situation with

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<v Speaker 3>the environment. Yeah, there were people that knew about the

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<v Speaker 3>environment and how important it is, and there were environmental groups,

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<v Speaker 3>but it wasn't so huge like it is now. Every

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<v Speaker 3>single album we would talk about something like, for example,

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<v Speaker 3>with the first record for that song is talking about

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<v Speaker 3>all the homeless kids that aren't in Mexico. When we

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<v Speaker 3>start playing in the United States and we start seeing

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<v Speaker 3>how the Latino community has given so much. I never

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<v Speaker 3>saw so much backlash against Mexicans, and not only Mexicans,

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<v Speaker 3>but people from other countries or races. We were saying, well,

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<v Speaker 3>it's important to support the community. Lord, We've told Latinos

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<v Speaker 3>not to be afraid. The United States is made up

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<v Speaker 3>of immigrants. I think there's more good people in the

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<v Speaker 3>United States than bad people. And we always said if

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<v Speaker 3>someday we would become famous, we would want to use

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<v Speaker 3>that platform to talk about things that we're concerned about

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<v Speaker 3>or my eyes right now, there was this demand to

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<v Speaker 3>see the band live. You know, we come out with

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<v Speaker 3>the Ryan Tour because Tinko shows thirty five. If it

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<v Speaker 3>wouldn't have been for that song, you know, I don't

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<v Speaker 3>think there would have been any man not.

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<v Speaker 2>We're part of rock and roll history. You know.

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<v Speaker 3>We sold out seven La Forums, which is such an

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<v Speaker 3>iconic rock and roll venue, and it's a band that's

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<v Speaker 3>singing in Spanish Welcome.

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<v Speaker 2>We really love to share our music with everybody.

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<v Speaker 3>So that's another way of showing also how music is

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<v Speaker 3>so universal.

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<v Speaker 2>It doesn't matter what language it is.

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<v Speaker 3>It's about what's behind the artists or what do they

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<v Speaker 3>give off when they're playing it. We've accomplished and achieved

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<v Speaker 3>more than we ever dreamed about.

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<v Speaker 2>When you have to work so hard.

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<v Speaker 3>You really protect what you have and you don't take

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<v Speaker 3>it for granted, and you cherish it every day. You're

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<v Speaker 3>thankful every day, and every day you get up on

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<v Speaker 3>stage and you see that we're overwhelmed by seeing all

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<v Speaker 3>those fans and all the passion, And as long as

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<v Speaker 3>we're healthy and we still are hungry and passionate as

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<v Speaker 3>we are, there's there's gonna be Manah for a long time.

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<v Speaker 5>Listen, we just started. Listen.

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<v Speaker 1>This episode was produced by Gini Montalbo and edited by

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<v Speaker 1>Sophia Palisa Ca. The Latino USA team includes Andrea Lopez Crusado,

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<v Speaker 1>Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent, Daisy Contreras, Victoria Estrada, Renaldo Leanoz Junior,

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<v Speaker 1>Patricia Sulvaran, with help from Raoul Perez. Our editorial director

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<v Speaker 1>is Fernando Santos. Our director of Engineering is Stephanie Lebau.

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<v Speaker 1>Our senior engineer is Julia Caruso. Our associate engineers are

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<v Speaker 1>Gabriel Lebias and jj Carubin. Our marketing manager is Luis

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<v Speaker 1>Luna or New York Women's Foundation Fellow is Elizabeth loentdal Torres.

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<v Speaker 1>Our theme music was composed by Zania Rubinos, I'm your

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<v Speaker 1>host and executive producer Maria Jojosa join us on our

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<v Speaker 1>next episode. You can also find us on your social

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<v Speaker 1>media and I say not te rayas Ciao.

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<v Speaker 4>Latino USA is made possible in part by the Ford Foundation,

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<v Speaker 4>working with visionaries on the front lines of social change

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<v Speaker 4>world wide, the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,

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<v Speaker 4>and Hispanics and philanthropy.

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<v Speaker 2>Didn't that mean lesson the ust? So you'll okay translation?

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<v Speaker 2>This is early for musicians.