Una Poesia

Album Review

It isn't uncommon for regional Mexican groups to come up with catchy slogans to market and promote themselves. Los Rieleros del Norte call themselves "La Máquina Musical Norteña #1," and Bronco bill themselves as "El Gigante de América." Meanwhile, Banda Pequeños Musical have been describing themselves as "La Banda Mas Romántica de América," which means "America's Most Romantic Banda Group" — and that isn't misleading. While Banda Pequeños Musical are hardly the only banda act with a romantic orientation, there is no doubt that they have been among the leading proponents of banda as romantic Latin pop. That romanticism is very much in evidence on Una Poesia, which often functions as a banda equivalent of Marco Antonio Solís, Juan Gabriel, José José, Luis Miguel, or Joan Sebastían. There are a few ranchera-minded tracks, including "No Hagas Lo Que Yo" and "En 2 Horas un Día." And the album takes a tropical turn on the lively, cumbia-flavored "Todo Pasa Sin Parar." But most of the time Una Poesia is really a Latin pop/adult contemporary disc with banda instrumentation. If one took a typical Gabriel or Sebastían album and replaced the existing instrumentation with banda instrumentation, the results wouldn't be radically different from what Banda Pequeños Musical generally do on Una Poesia. This 2009 release isn't an album of corridos, and it isn't an album of José Alfredo Jiménez standards; Banda Pequeños Musical have never pretended to be hardcore regional Mexican traditionalists. But from a Latin pop standpoint, Una Poesia is an agreeable listen and demonstrates that Banda Pequeños Musical do, in fact, epitomize the romantic side of banda.