About Vicente Fernández

• Biography
• Interview

About Alejandro Fernández

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

Hard hitting songs for hard-hit people. That's Mexico's ranchera music: the trumpets-blaring, violins-sweeping soundtrack to every south-of-the-border horse opera and a music that's been prettified and tamed for romance and restaurants. But at its heart, these songs and the mariachis who perform them serve one purpose: to deliver raw emotion and, with that surfeit of pain, to provide release. Closer to the dark heart of Spain than any other Latin music (despite its Germanic gallop), ranchera is music to fall apart to, to render oneself a blubbering, sodden mass -- music for squinting into the cold sober light of truth. It's the specialty of Vicente Fernandez, who joined his son Alejandro for a tour that's captured on this double-live gonzo document. Recorded at Mexico's 60,000-seat Foro Sol on May 1, 2003, the pair deliver 31 stabs of mariachi both pop and traditional, bonding over traitorous women and fickle fate: "You made me suffer," they croon, "You will pay, You will never be forgiven." The show neatly programs sets by father and son, punctuated with duets. The first one ends Disc One, and it's the first song Vicente and Alejandro recorded together, "Amor de los Dos." "Sing it like I taught you," Vicente says; and as Alejandro delivers a record-shattering note, the father shouts "That's my boy!" Returning the favor as El Numero Uno deploys his signature trills, Alejandro crows: "That's my Papa!" Backed by 40 musicians -- strings, brass, keyboards, harp, backing singers, percussionists and guitarists -- the two segue between each other's biggest hits: Alejandro's "Como Quien Pierde Una Estrella," his dad's "Lastima Que Seas Ajena." Of course, these only scratch the surface of the nearly five-hour show --Vicente makes a covenant with his public early on: "You keep applauding, and we'll keep playing, until you get what you paid for." But with the showstopping duets intact, including the aching "Volver Volver," fans will feel like they were there. Mark Schwartz, Barnes & Noble

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