Latinos applaud rock band Mana’s Obama inaugural gig

Mexicans and Mexican Americans have been weighing in about the performance of Mexican superstar rock band Maná at an inaugural ball for President Obama.

The consensus so far? It was a good night for rock en español -- and a smart political move as well.

In numerous tweets, Mexican Americans and other Latinos expressed their feelings of pride in witnessing the band playing for the Oval Office occupant. “Makes you proud to be hispanic!” wrote a young woman with the Twitter name “anais.”

“I think it was madd legit to see Mana perform at the presidential inaugural ball,” wrote another.

The band had kind words for the president as well. Lead singer Fher was quoted in the Mexico City newspaper El Universal as saying (in Spanish) that Obama represented “a new dawn for this country, a new American, a new American citizen that doesn’t fit the scheme of the typical white American, with blue eyes, that is also good but that has to do with diversity, because this country is made of different races.”

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