Los Lobos
La Pistola Y El Corazón

1988. Having reached the pinnacle of commercial success thanks to the film and song "La Bamba" combined with a very personal musical style, the band, without riding the commercial wave that made them famous worldwide, bravely embarks on an unprecedented venture. A completely acoustic album, with seven traditional songs and two originals composed by them. An album played purely for the pleasure of self-expression through music that vividly reflects their origins, their ethnic background.

Los Lobos were "Chicano" musicians earning a living by playing traditional Mexican music at village festivals. It's important to remember that Mexican culture and music are composed of various "strands," including the two most important ones: the songs called "il corrido," which recount news stories, legendary events, tragedies, and noteworthy happenings, and the "mariachi" songs which generally accompanied wedding festivities, adorned in Mexican costumes.

As for their album, it's necessary to say that this is a serious and intense piece of work, played with heart, purely folk. To get an idea, just listen to the instruments used: accordion, violin, acoustic guitars, and voices, along with typically Mexican ones like the vihuela, the guitarron, the huapanguera, and the bajo sexto. The rest is done by the songs, songs that are all of popular origins, warm and cheerful, sad and melancholic, full of poetry and history. Some are extremely effervescent and overwhelming, they get under your skin, leaving you not indifferent, they drag you into joyous sensations, taking you on festive dances. Some, then, are so profound that they even manage to move you.

On the first side of the LP, at least three of the five songs it comprises are gems; "Guacamaya", "Si Quisiera", and "Estoy Sentano Aqui". On the second side, the quartet engraved on it is decidedly perfect, without any blemish, "El Gusto", "Que Nadie Sepa Mi Sufrir", "El Canelo", and "La Pistola y el Corazón", are authentic jewels. Jewels that you must "wear" to fully experience them, completely, without hesitation. This is music, sounds that convey the simplicity, the spontaneity, the "being" of a warm and profound people, rich in lively and passionate traditions. They are songs and dances handed down from generation to generation, remaining unchanged in spirit and beauty, remaining pure in their history and poetry.

Despite not being born in Mexico (they are American), with this album Los Lobos demonstrate their love for their origins, their roots, and challenge the music "business" by taking on a difficult endeavor. They play solely for the enjoyment, pleasure, and, if you will, also for the right and duty to make their culture, their history, their music known. The music that has made Mexico, the "mariachis", and even them important.
It's thanks to this type of album and the musicians who propose them that the history of a people grows, renews, but also and above all, is remembered. La Pistola Y El Corazón, for this reason, becomes a work of art, a piece of Mexican culture, an act of love that does not go unnoticed.

Rating 4.5/5