Jazmin

Album Review

In the mid- to late 2000s, former norteño singer turned duranguense artist Diana Reyes marketed herself as "La Reina del Pasito Duranguense," which roughly translates to "The Queen of Duranguense." It was a marketing strategy that paid off for Reyes, who has sold a lot more CDs as a duranguense singer than she did as a norteño singer. And when Jazmin Lopez' debut album, Jazmin, was released in June 2009, Fonovisa seemed to take a hint from Reyes and exalted Lopez as "La Princesa del Pasito Duranguense" (The Princess of Duranguense). If Reyes could be successfully marketed as duranguense's queen, Fonovisa evidently reasoned, why couldn't Lopez be the princess? That sort of hype can backfire, of course — if you're going to call yourself a "princess," you'd better be able to back it up. But Lopez, thankfully, shows a lot of promise on Jazmin. The Texas native is an expressive, charismatic singer, and the bouncy duranguense sound serves her well on covers of songs associated with major Latin stars like María Conchita Alonso ("Noche de Copas"), Gloria Trevi ("El Recuento de los Daños"), Joan Sebastian ("Desamor"), and Marco Antonio Solís ("Dios Bendiga Nuestro Amor," "Sin Él"). Although Lopez lets out her share of "ay yi yis," Jazmin doesn't have a strong ranchera factor and favors the Latin pop side of duranguense; stylistically, Lopez gets a lot of inspiration from Reyes as well as from los Horóscopos de Durango. Albums of covers can make a new artist sound like part of a run-of-the-bill cover band if the artist isn't creative about it, but Lopez is creative — and hearing these songs with duranguense makeovers definitely gives the project a lot of intrigue. Let's hope that Lopez' subsequent releases are as memorable as Jazmin.