Judith Reyes, Chabela Villaseņor, and the Solorio-Pulido Sisters
Mexico: Rosa De Castilla and Other Love Songs
Rounder (www.rounder.com)

These early 1940s and mid-1960s field recordings by ethnomusicologist Henrietta Yurchenco present a spare palette of fetching Mexican love songs (sung in Spanish and indigenous Purepecha) by a vocally haunting set of female folk artists, the enigmatic Chabela Villaseñor in particular. There simply is not much in the way of Purepecha music on record, so this album is a find. Apart from the title song (with Spanish, Purepecha and guitar solo versions), other classic Mexican folk tunes include "Bésame Morenita," "Flor de Canela," "La Chachalaca," "Quiéreme" and the tragic tale of "La Llorona." - Michael Stone