Though tribute compilation albums are a dime a dozen, few are as timely, relevant, or ear opening as
Un Mundo Raro: Las Canciones de José Alfredo Jiménez. This collection was curated and produced by
Mexican Institute of Sound's Camilo Lara, and was released on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the great songwriter's death. It features a colorful array of performers ranging from
Lila Downs and
Andres Calamaro, and Julietta Venegas to
Beto Cuevas, Enrique Bunbury and more, offering some of
Jimenez's best-known tunes as well as a couple of real surprises.
When mariachi first began to morph out of ranchera in the late 1940s and early '50s, it was youth music. It focused its attractive, hooky melodies and poetic, often dramatic lyrics on primarily sad and dramatic love songs (topics teens and younger adults could relate to). This was the scene that the young
Jimenez entered as a songwriter; his tunes caught on and helped bring mariachi to mainstream popularity. As the music joined itself to the fabric of Mexico's popular culture, it stratified and was adapted to more formal arrangements and production, making way for songwriters like
Juan Gabriel. Lara acted on his belief that
Jimenez's songs, if presented properly, would resonate as much with 20th century youth as they had during the first mariachi revolution. To that end, he gave participating artists a free hand in interpreting and enhancing the material. Venegas delivers the classic "Te Solté La Rienda" by sticking close to the original melody while adding surf guitars and melding mariachi and Southern soul horns. Bunbury's reading of "Ella" is a stellar ballad delivered by wedding norteño, mariachi, and Texas country music. The horns are there, but so are slide and pedal steel guitars, as a slippery, shuffling snare and bassline keep time.
Carla Morrison's indie rock take on the title cut weaves the ranchera folk roots of mariachi through lilting post-millennial pop psychedelia as her vocal pours through the mix with a devastating ache.
Downs and
Calamaro unite in one of the album's three duets. It's
Jimenez's signature tune "En el Ultimao Trago," offered as a sleepy cantina waltz powered by distorted electric guitars, swelling accordion, and brushed drums as horns paint a bittersweet backdrop. Despite the instrumentation, the pair stick close to the original arrangement.
Los Lobos' David Hidalgo gives "La Media Vuelta" a horn-saturated
Kiko-style treatment with just a touch of
Sgt. Pepper thrown in.
Cuevas delivers closer "El Rey," another of
Jimenez's legendary songs with a rootsy rock & roll attitude and jangling electric guitars, R&B horns, popping tom-toms and snares in a chart that recalls the early
Mavericks interpreting
Roy Orbison in a mariachi. All through
Un Mundo Raro: Las Canciones de José Alfredo Jiménez, the musicians underscore the poetry in the songwriter's tunes and uncover the endless possibilities in his music for appealing to a new generation. Lara and his cast have delivered what is almost unheard of now: A perfectly articulated homage worthy of its subject. ~ Thom Jurek