Mexican Music for 5 de Mayo

Posted on 04. May, 2010 by Hector Aviles in Blog

This blog is about Latin music, and as you know, I mostly write about Salsa and Latin Jazz, as those are the genres that I love the most. But all of us like a little variety in our lives, and that applies to our music. If you have been in Mexico, you know about the instant party mood the sound of a Mariachi can bring to any place. The same goes if you have been in Colombia, and heard a live “vallenato” group, or in Argentina with “tango”, or Brazil with…just about anything they play. You and I have our musical preferences, but there is more to Latin music. If you are like me, every now and then you may feel like shaking things up a little; change the pace and listen to something nice, but different. With the 5 de Mayo here, let me recommend you one album I think you might like.

It was by coincidence, and not by anyone’s recommendation, that I found “Con Mexico en el Corazon”, a recording by the great Puerto Rican singer/guitarist José Feliciano. You and I know Feliciano is not a singer of “rancheras”, with past experience reminding us of many artists which have ventured into that territory of trying to sing “rancheras”, and ended crashing and burning. Feliciano went “all-in” into this recording, and I’m not the only one that likes it.

Jose Feliciano's "Con Mexico en el Corazon"

 This album is good from all angles. It has a great repertoire of songs, with several of them written by probably the best “ranchera” composer of all-time; José Alfredo Jimenez. The music is superb. The Mariachi band which backs Feliciano is excellent. And José Feliciano’s singing is outstanding. He even does some falsettos which are not easy to try if you are not used to doing them. Not even Luis Miguel, in his also excellent “ranchera album” “Mexico En La Piel” ventured in doing those falsettos.

This is an album made so well that you don’t get tired of listening to it. My wife is not a José Feliciano fan. Nothing from Feliciano impressed her, until this. She is Mexican and picky with her Mexican music; so I see it as a pretty good litmus test if she was won over by Feliciano on this album. 

If you want to try some different latin music, by a known artist, this is a great Mexican ranchera album which I consider a gem. I’m a Latin music lover, and occasionally like to listen to new things out there. When I come across something I really like, I’ll let you know, and I hope you do the same though comments or email.

Note: I’m glad to be back blogging. I took a long “sabbatical” from January to April to think about the blog and the things I wanted to do with it. I hope you’ll like what I have coming. Saludos!

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

No related posts.

Tags: Jose Feliciano, latin music, mariachi, Mexico, ranchera