En Vivo Desde Guadalajara (CD - 2008)

European soccer experts will tell you that Diego Rivas is the name of a Spanish soccer player who has played for Real Sociedad de Fútbol, the team representing San Sebastián (which is in Spain's Basque region, although Rivas was born in Ciudad Real in La Mancha). But this is a different Diego Rivas; this Diego Rivas is a regional Mexican singer from Sinaloa, Mexico, and his passion for corridos yields enjoyable results on En Vivo Desde Guadalajara (Live from Guadalajara). The packaging of this live album leaves something to be desired; the credits don't list either a venue or a recording date. But Rivas' performances are consistently inspired, and he is well served by a combination of norteño and banda elements. The use of accordion gives these performances their norteño appeal, and even though Rivas doesn't have banda's giant wall of brass, the constant presence of a chugging tuba is clearly banda-inspired. Rivas has recorded his share of Latin pop-influenced material, but on En Vivo Desde Guadalajara he steers clear of pop elements and emphasizes corridos. In fact, corridos dominate this 40-minute disc -- and that is a good thing because selections like "El Chilapa," "Los 3 Amigos," "El Empresario," and "El Reten" underscore the fact that corridos are one of his strong points. Rivas can be a very humorous storyteller, so not surprisingly, he brings plenty of humor (some of it dark humor) to many of the corridos that he performs during this show in Guadalajara, which is Mexico's second largest city. En Vivo Desde Guadalajara is one of Rivas' most consistent albums, and it is an appropriate starting point if one is exploring his work for the first time. ~ Alex Henderson minimize