Fher Olvera, the lead singer of Mexican rock band Mana, performs with the band in the East Room of the White House in Washington on May 5, 2016, as part of a Cinco de Mayo celebration.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Unlike previous lively and colorful Cinco de Mayo celebrations hosted by former U.S. presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama at the White House, this year’s annual fiesta was less traditional and less musical.
Vice President Mike Pence held an intimate Cinco de Mayo reception on Thursday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House, where he greeted the press with a few words in Spanish. President Donald Trump, who last year commemorated Cinco de Mayo by eating a taco bowl at Trump Tower and tweeting “I love Hispanics,” did not attend the reception.
In past years, the annual Cinco de Mayo event, a tradition initiated by President Bush in 2001 to celebrate the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862, has included performances by Mexican superstars including Thalía, Marco Antonio Solís, Pedro Fernández and most recently Maná.
To make up for a music-free May 5 at the White House this year, below are five of the most memorable Cinco de Mayo performances throughout the years:
2001: Thalía (dancing with President Bush’s nephew George P. Bush)
2002: Pedro Fernández
Mexican singer Pedro Fernandez sings with his Mariachi Arriero de Mexico band for US President Geroge W. Bush and his guests during an early Cinco de Mayo celebration on May 3, 2002 at the White House in Washington, DC. PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images
2004: Marco Antonio Solís
?2006: Graciela Beltrán (catch her performance around the 10:20-minute mark)
2016: Maná