Vicente Fernández returns with 10 banda duets on Vol. 2 tribute album
Vicente Fernández sings over brass again on a new album released 15 September via Sony Music.
Tributo al Rey con Banda (Grandes Duetos Vol. 2) is the sixth posthumous production from the singer, according to Billboard. Posthumous, in music-industry use, means assembled and released after an artist has died. The set holds 10 duets with other regional Mexican acts, the broad category that covers mariachi, banda, norteño and related styles.
Each track pairs an archived Fernández vocal with a Sinaloan banda backing. That is the large brass-and-percussion line-up from northwestern Mexico, built around trumpets, trombones, clarinets, tuba and drums. It replaces mariachi, the violin-, guitar- and trumpet-led ensemble most associated with his catalogue. Short version: same voice, different band.
Julio Preciado appears on “Las Llaves de Mi Alma.” Ana Bárbara sings “Hermoso Cariño” with him, and Joan Sebastian joins on “El Último Barco.” Banda MS, itself a large touring banda group, teams up on “Por Tu Maldito Amor.” The focus track, the song a label pushes hardest to playlists and radio, is “Cruz de Olvido” with Lenin Ramírez.
The album also includes “La Ley del Monte” with Ángela Aguilar, as previewed on Fernández’s official Facebook page. In projects of this kind the guest normally records a new part around the older vocal, and the two are then mixed together.
Vicente Fernández Jr., the singer’s son, served as executive producer, the credit for the person who oversees song choice, guests and completion. “We selected these collaborations with the goal of ensuring that my father’s musical legacy continues to transcend time,” he told Billboard Español.
Vol. 2 follows Tributo al Rey con Banda Vol. 1, released in May. That first volume featured guests including Alejandro Fernández, Christian Nodal and Banda El Recodo. Fernández died on 12 December 2021, and both volumes build on recordings made before that date and finished afterwards. The second volume was presented in the studio where Fernández recorded, according to Publimetro.
For fans, this means a chance to hear familiar phrasing in a heavier, louder setting. Banda brings tuba bass lines, clarinets and a marching drum pulse. Mariachi leans on violins, guitars and trumpets. The songs do not change. The room around them does, and comparison is part of the fun.
