You've heard this description before: a charismatic lead singer leading three guys playing guitar, bass, and drums, performing their songs born of love and politics, spiced by talk of faith and evidence of social activism.

U2, you say? Fair enough, but the subject today is Mana, the Mexican rock band rolling into Tsongas Arena in Lowell Tuesday.

It's not random chance that the band, which formed in 1986 in Guadalajara, just a couple of years after Miami-born lead guitarist Alex Gonzalez, 33, moved with his family, fits the profile not only of U2 but of other rock acts such as Peter Gabriel and Sting. Gonzalez says he and his bandmates grew up not only listening to their music, but observing how they fused music and activism.

"I learned more about human rights from the first Amnesty International show [a benefit in 1986] than through any other means. I found out more through music that I ever did through some politician talking on TV," Gonzalez said by phone Wednesday from Miami, where the band was to combine an appearance on the first MTV Latin Video Music Awards Thursday with a show at Miami Arena Friday.

Santana was expected at the MTV show as well, but it would hardly have been the first meeting for the two acts. Mana toured with Santana during the "Supernatural" tour, after collaborating on "Corazon Espinado," one of the album's many successful cuts.

They collaborate again on a track on "Revolucion de Amor," which last week was No. 3 on Billboard's Latin albums chart. The song, "Justicia, Tierra y Libertad" (the band sings in Spanish), opens with a phrase associated with Sub-Com man dante Marcos, leader of the Zapatista peasant movement. The album's love songs have sharp edges, such as "Mariposa Traicio nera" ("Treacherous Butterfly").

"This album [the band's seventh] was more about playing from the heart instead of playing with the mind," Gonzalez said. "Our past albums were more about being perfectionistic, but for us now, perfectionism is not perfection."

Tickets are $36, $46, and $61, and are available from Ticketmaster (617/508-931-2000) or at the Tsongas Arena box office. The show begins at 8.