Original Review 9 March 2005

I am not a Mexican, but I have circulated for years in the Mexican parts of Los Angeles, and I have travelled throughout Mexico, enjoying the native musicians on street corners and in parks and cafes. I have always wondered about those who praise Lola Beltran as the "great" Mexican singer. She sounds too urbane and too international to me--in the manner of Catarina Valente. I always thought the real spirit of Mexican music was better represented by such as Las Hermanas de Alba. And now Linda Ronstadt carries on the true Mexican tradition in her later work. Whatever else she may have sung in her career, I find in Linda's Mexican singing the authentic flavor of Old Mexico.

Update 17 May 2006

Last night as I was browsing the reviews of this record, I got curious about the various comparisons to Lola Beltran. Not having listened to Lola for quite some time, I went through a stack of stuff from both Linda and Lola to refresh my ear.

My conclusion. Lola is good, but Linda is better.

Linda has a much broader emotional range. With all of her musical excelence, Lola has a dreadful sameness from song to song--even songs which should be handled quite differently. For example, It is quite disconcerting to hear Lola back to back on "Ya No" and "Me equivoque contigo"--songs which should be very different in emotional tone sound all too similar. As it happens, I heard the latter song on the radio a few days ago by a male artist. His rendition shoots Lola's down the drain.

By contrast, Linda's emotional range is both subtle and immense. For example, from her "Tata Dios," which wrenches me to tears every time I hear it, to the mock seriousness of her "El toro relajo," which is always worth a good laugh. After reviewing a batch of Lola's work this morning, I can't imagine her ever having such an effect on me. Lola still strikes me as a city person trying to sing country. Whatever else Linda may have done in her life, she somehow manages to dig her toes into the true country soil of Old Mexico.

Viva Linda!

THIS IS A WONDERFUL CD, I ALSO HAVE HER FIRST CD CALLED CANCIONES DE MI PADRE, BOTH ARE GREAT. SONGS . I AM A MARIACHI FAN. IAM ALSO MEXICAN AND LINDA SINGS GREAT IN SPANISH. I TOTALLY DISAGREE WITH ANYONE THAT SAYS ANY DIFFRENT. WE HAVE ALOT OF SPANISH (MEXICAN ) SINGERS. THAT CALL THEMSELF SINGERS AND DONT EVEN COME CLOSE TO THEY WAY LINDA SINGS. I HAVE PLAYED THIS CD AT PARTYS AND MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY WANT TO KNOW WHO SHE IS, THEY LOVE HER SINGING AND THEY LOVE THE SONGS THAT WERE SELECTED.

Linda continues her wonderful tributes to her Mexican heritage. Her version of "Mi ranchito" compares favorably to that of the great Lola Beltran. I didn't like the song selection on this recording quite as much as those on "Canciones de mi padre," but it's still wonderful. Linda, yo te adoro. Por favor, cante mas en espanol.

Linda applies her one-of-a-kind vocals to an outstanding set of songs packed with emotion. I have gained a better understanding of Mexican culture and music through this CD. This CD is worth it just to listen to her magnificent voice, but the songs are gorgeous, too.

Linda does a pretty good job of interpreting these songs, and a lot of that has to do with her Mexican heritage, but it is stretching things to think that she is really a Mexican interpreting the music of her native land, because that is not quite the case. It is close to being the case, but it is still not so. Comparing her to Lola Beltran seems like the fun thing to do, but it is not quite appropriate, in my opinion. One gets the impression, really, that people first found out about Lola from reading the liner notes of Linda's first album of this genre, and they very dutifully checked her out, and they knew that it would be irreverent to the point that Linda herself would no doubt strongly disappove if anyone were to be so brash as to put her name above Lola's, but since these newly created aficcionados of ranchera music did not quite so dutifully go and check out Amalia Mendoza, Chayito Valdez, Lucha Villa, or any of another maybe dozen or so real ranchera singers that can think of just right off hand who deserve consideration here, suddenly the pantheon of the giants of the genre are Linda and Lola, and that's it.

Well, not to take anything from either of the two, it might be pointed out that Lucha Villa certainly remains more popular than either of the two - when it comes to the tastes of actual Mexicans who grew up with ranchera music. Linda's lack of exposure in Mexico might have something to do with this, I suppose, but the real problem is that there is a certain inflection, which is a matter of how passing notes are modulated in "riffs" and long notes are trilled, which are characteristic of ranchera music, which is entirely different, using the scale differently and emphasizing different syncopations, than that which American country and western singers use, and this is what gives the music its flavor. So, if you take a ranchera song and a mariachi band, and you attempt to add a little more life to it in certain measures my generating spontaneous modulations here and there, you can either make it sound like a real ranchera singer cutting loose and getting down (like what Lola, Chayito, or Lucha would do) or you can add a lot of heart and soul ala Nashville or Hollywood - which is actually what Linda is doing.

Like, I am not knocking it or anything - it is excellent - it sounds great! But, still, if you have any money left, go out and buy Lola's versions of Jose Alfredo Jimenez's songs, or buy one of Lucha Villa's early recordings, or check out Amalia Mendoza. Or, one of my favorites, even though she is not quite as famous, but her soprano voice is absolutely haunting, is Estela Nuñez. My favorite, still, is Chayito Valdez. Also, if you have not heard the Hermanas Huerta, you don't know what you are missing!