Mariachi Reyna de Los Ángeles

There ought to be nothing surprising about an all-female mariachi band, but this particular branch of Mexican music has such deep connections with cheesy serenading and the charro costume borrowed from Mexican horsemen, that this tight, talented 11-piece can claim to be breaking a few moulds. Founded in 1994, their name honours Lola Bertrán, the reina or ‘queen’ of ranchera music in Mexico, who worked briefly with the band before her untimely death in 1996. This album, their fourth, is a very polished version of classic mariachi; the brass, strings and voices skilfully woven into rich melodies and sweet harmonies that rise and fall like waves of emotion. Titles such as ‘My Ungrateful Eyes’ and ‘Love Me a Lot’ indicate women can convey mariachi music's neediness and self-immolation just as well as men. The solo vocals, uncredited, are bold and beautiful. On a song titled ‘A la Luz de los Cocuyos’ (To the Light of the Fireflies) the music leaps from a bracing cowboy-film intro to a swooningly romantic climax with some very high yodelling. If you like melodrama, big arrangements and tremulous trumpets, you'll love this old music with a new, feminist twist.