El Katch

Album Review

Mexican banda certainly has a fascinating history. It started out as instrumental brass band music, but vocals were subsequently added. Vocal-oriented banda became the norm, and when banda experienced a major renaissance in the 1990s and 2000s, it became increasingly diverse. Saul "El Jaguar" Alarcon shows us some of that banda diversity on his first Fonovisa album, El Katch. This 2009 release isn't as wildly eclectic as some 21st century banda discs have been; Alarcon doesn't combine banda with Afro-Brazilian music, reggae, soul, Venezuelan joropo, or Dominican bachata. But the young singer successfully keeps one foot in Mexican traditionalism (rancheras and corridos) and the other in Latin pop, all the while uniting his vocals with banda's mammoth wall of brass. Alarcon shows a strong Latin pop influence on "Por Qué Te Vas," but his outlook is much more traditional on some rancheras (including "Me Voy a Ir" and "Capricho Maldito"), and a corrido ("Corrido de Malverde"). And he handles himself fairly well on both the crossover material and the more classically Mexican songs. El Katch is the work of a young vocalist who still has some growing and developing to do; nonetheless, this is a decent effort and indicates that Alarcon is well worth keeping an eye on.