Los Consentidos

In regional Mexican music, the Mexican state of Sinaloa is closely identified with banda. Numerous banda artists have come out of Sinaloa, and even banda artists who were born and raised in the United States (including Los Angeles native Jenni Rivera) are often described as having a Sinaloa-type sound. But not every regional Mexican act that comes from Sinaloa is banda-oriented; Los Consentidos, for example, embrace sierreño on their first Fonovisa album — and the minimalist, stripped-down approach that prevails on this 2006 release is a long way from the huge wall of brass that banda sinaloense is known for. Los Consentidos consist of Fabricio Espinoza Soto and César Eduardo Espinoza Soto on vocals, Tereso de Jesús Miranda Angulo on acoustic requinto guitar, and Emmanuél Carrillo Osuna on electric bass; the requinto is right up front throughout this 38-minute CD, which tends to give Los Consentidos a folksy, classically Mexican sound despite the Latin pop influences in their sierreño. Full of sierreño arrangements of Latin pop songs from the '80s and '90s, this album is not the work of regional Mexican purists. But the prominence of acoustic guitar gives Latin pop songs like Juan Gabriel's "Por Que Fue Que Te Ame" (Why Was It That I Loved You) and Marco Antonio Solís' "Tu Carcel" (Your Jail) a rural, down-home earthiness that you wouldn't find on grupero or tejano versions of these songs. While Los Consentidos don't sound like a mariachi/ranchera outfit from the '40s or '50s, they certainly don't have the glossy sleekness of grupero or tejano either. This CD is a fairly promising effort from Los Consentidos as well as an enjoyable representation of the sierreño style of regional Mexican music.