His soft mellow piano sound accompanied by melodious lyrics that tell a story is what earns Ricardo Arjona the label of "latin Jim Croce". While I usually scoff at such simplistic labels, I really have to cave in on this one. Arjona's music does bear an almost uncanny resemblance at times to Croce's music. Of course the songs are wildly different, with the most obvious difference being that Arjona sings in spanish while Croce sings in english.

Deeper yet is the difference in the stories themselves. Arjona is often referred to as a "musician with a conscience" because of his frequent defense of the latino "everyman". He sings about problems facing Central Americans. He sings about cultural differences. He sings about political problems. And he puts a human face on every one of these topics.

Arjona isn't just a critic though, he's also a poignant bridge builder. His songs aren't the simplistic mindless bashes on the establishment that sometimes pass as criticism, but rather they explore ways in which people can solve problems or can at least come to an understanding. That's the point of the title cut, "Si El Norte Fuera El Sur" (if the north went to the south), but I think that his messages is strongest in the unlikely love story that he sings of in "Ella y El".

"Ella y El" is one of my favorite songs on this album (and the longest at over 6 minutes!) The song explores the unlikely romance that buds between two people of radically different backgrounds and philosophies. During the song, each questions the validity of his or her beliefs and learns to make compromises to reach a point where they can live in harmony together. "She is from Havana, he's from New York. She dances the tropicana, and he likes rock and roll. She sells kisses in a bordello while he finishes his degree at UCLA. She's a bit of a Marxist, while he's a die-hard Republican..." Of course it's predictable that they meet and fall in love, thus contradicting all that they think they believe in, but that's the tear-jerking magic of this ballad. Beyone the lyrics and the story, "Ella y El" also works on a musical level with its tropical sound and fast beat. An excellent tune!

Many of Arjona's songs are very much about big social issues in a complex modern world. A world that deals with everything from racism and injustice to the pervasive destructive influence of television. Arjona is an intelligent, thoughtful lyricist with a huge social conscience and a genuine pan-America view.

Some things are easy targets. Like the mind rot of television, which isn't just an issue facing middle class America, but which presents (often different) problems for other countries. The French worry that American programming undercuts their culture and language. The song "Frente Al Televisor" shows how some Guatamalans worry that their kids are growing up without respect for their own latino culture when they're fed a nutritionless diet of gum-chewing, jeans-clad, Marlboro-smoking images of what "cool" is supposed to be. "Get out of here with the lies about Ronald McDonald giving me free fries with the purchase of a Big Mac." Somehow, I think Arjona is outgunned in this battle...

Nobody is safe from being a target of Arjona's cutting criticism: in the song "Noticiero", he pokes jibes at the priorities of a Catholic church that would ban contraceptives among its believers, preferring instead a world of hungry babies. Somehow, I think Arjona is not going to win a lot of friends among the religious faithful...

What Did He Say?
It took me a little while to get used to Arjona's Guatamalan accent. I'm used to hearing Mexican spanish, which is generally a crisper, more phonetically accurate pronunciation. Arjona pronounces the "ll" character more like a "zh" sound than a "y" or "jy" sound -- words like ella come out sounding like "asia", not "eh-yuh" -- and his "s" sound often sounds closer to "z" -- su sounds like more zu.

It's confusing once in a while, but not that big of a problem -- no worse than listening to those wacky British or Australians muddle perfectly good American pronunciations. (No offense meant if you're British or Australian -- you guys probably laugh at us Yanks too...)

Cuts on this CD:
This is a long CD with a total running time of 64:39 -- that's a lot of music for the buck! Although I really only talked about a few of them in this review, here are all the songs on this album:

1. Noticiero
2. Tu Reputacion
3. Ella y El
4. Se Nos Muere el Amor
5. Si El Norte Fuera el Sur
6. Aun Te Amo
7. Abarroteria de Amor
8. Duerme
9. Te Acuerdes de Mi
10. Cita en el Bar
11. Me Ensenaste
12. Frente al Televisor
13. Tu
14. Mexico

About Ricardo Arjona...
Ricardo Arjona is Guatemalan -- from the colonial city of Antigua. Arjona is a fascinating character with a lot of varied life experiences. He once played basketball for the Guatemalan national team, taught primary school, and played guitar in Buenos Aires and Mexico City, before landing a contract with Sony Records. Some of his best-selling albums are Sin Danos a Terceros (1998), Galeria Caribe (2000), and Animal Nocturno (1993 -- evidently Arjona's "Big Hair" period...hehehe....love that cover photo).

Bottom Line
Ricardo Arjona is one of the most popular artists in the latin pop genre, and for good reason. He's got a very mellow, relaxing sound and he combines that with lyrics that make you pause and think. While I've mentioned the similarity in sound with Jim Croce, there are some songs that could almost make you think you were listening to Jimmy Buffet, because of the tropical sound and the placement of horns. I doubt that Arjona will ever become my favorite artist, but there are times of the day when you really just want to chill out in the hammock with a margarita in one hand and the relaxing tunes of Si El Norte Fuere el Sur on the CD player....ahhhh!




Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Reading or Studying

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