Desde la Patria (En Vivo)

Album Review

Live concerts are an important part of the regional Mexican experience (just as they are an important part of the salsa/Afro-Cuban experience, the merengue experience, and the tango experience). But a lot of regional Mexican fans will have limited exposure to that experience because, for one, they live in areas that don't get a lot of regional Mexican concerts, and because two, many duranguense, banda, norteño, ranchera, tierra caliente, and sierreño artists haven't provided live albums. But El Trono de México, thankfully, give listeners a taste of that live energy on Desde la Patria en Vivo!. This 2009 release isn't ideal. The credits don't list a venue or tell listeners where these live performances were recorded — and this CD (which lasts about 47 minutes) could have easily been 20 or 25 minutes longer. Nonetheless, the arrival of Desde la Patria en Vivo! is a positive thing.

El Trono de México obviously handle themselves well on-stage, and their enthusiasm comes through on inspired performances of "Por Amor a Ti" and "Te Ves Fatal" from 2008's Almas Gemelas, "Corazón Mágico," "Se Fue," and "Prometiste Volver" from 2007's Fuego Nuevo, and "La Loca" from 2007's El Muchacho Alegre. The interesting thing is how quickly El Trono de México came out with a live album. Some regional Mexican artists will have 15 or 20 studio albums in their catalog before recording a live album — that is, if they record one at all — but when Desde la Patria en Vivo! was released in June 2009, these providers of pop-flavored duranguense only had four studio albums available in the United States (not counting a few best-of collections). Desde la Patria en Vivo! isn't perfect, but all things considered, it paints an attractive picture of El Trono de México's energetic live show. [A 12-track version was also released.]