When Natalia Jiménez arrived in Mexico with her group La Quinta Estación, the least thing that crossed her mind was ever to sing ranchera music. What’s more, when he first heard the final version of “The sun does not return”, perhaps his greatest success, the trumpets with which the song begins they seemed horrendous.
“Al beginning It was a pop x, normalita, “said Natalia in a recent conversation. “When I heard it I said, ‘no, man, why did they put trumpets on it? Here they all went crazy ‘and such. ”
But those who went crazy were his fans with this“ Mexicanized ”version. Trumpets, for those who don’t know it, are one of the most powerful instruments that make up the mariachi.
So when Natalia saw the uproar that that song caused in her concerts, she sought to do more songs with trumpets, and even more: “I ended up wanting to sing with mariachi,” said the interpreter from Madrid who lives between Miami and Mexico City.
However, that plan was postponed for several years because life took her to other musical directions, until in 2019 she recorded “México de mi corazón”, an album that included 15 traditional Mexican songs by authors such as Juan Gabriel and José Alfredo Jiménez.
The album was a success not only in Mexico, but in Spain and Latin America. That was reason enough to record “México en mi corazón II”, an album that will be released in August and of which he recently released the single “Qué bueno es tenerte”, a song in which he had the MS Band as a guest.
It is one of the three unpublished songs that this album will carry, which is completed by wild Mexican songs, such as “Red Sky”, “If we are left” and “Your mare was too big for you”, and which has collaborations with interpreters such as Álex Fernández, Alicia Villarreal, Gerardo Ortíz and the aforementioned Banda MS.
“They are divine songs to cry on during the national holidays, cantineras songs, more ‘enrabietás” , said Natalia, who traveled to Mazatlán, Mexico, to record the newly released single with Alan Ramírez and Oswaldo Silvas, vocalists of Banda MS.
For now, the pandemic has somewhat subsided to Natalia because she is focused on finishing the album. But there are already plans to restart the tour that he left half in 2020 due to the pandemic. We say a little because this woman is just finishing a project when she already has another in mind.
“Nothing, I won’t stop still,” she said with her beaten Madrid accent. “It’s a phrase that I use a lot, ‘I don’t stop still.’”
And although Natalia now feels like a fish in water performing Mexican songs, the truth is that when she released “México in my heart ”, I was scared to death. This is because many Mexicans are not very receptive to foreigners who sing rancheras songs.
“I said, ‘I hope you like it, that you take it well, I blessed myself herself, ‘”the singer said. “I did it because a lot of fans were asking me for it; They told me, ‘Now, stop begging’ “. And he attributes to the late Rocío Dúrcal having made the path easier.
“Rocío opened the doors for others,” he said. “Now I can get there and it is not strange to them; Many times people tell me that seeing me sing songs by Juan Gabriel and wearing those dresses reminds them of Rocío, and I am very happy that people compare me with her because she is a goddess of music. ”
