How can I describe the music of this 23-year-old actress gone musician? Only 3 syllables can describe her music and sound…  A-MA-ZING!!! WOW! I remember growing up as a kid I use to watch Ximena on the Mexican soap opera Luz Clarita, its crazy how much she’s grown musically. Ximena went from being the evil stepsister on Luz Clarita to a Latin Grammy nominated artist.

Ximena was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and has been around the entertainment business all her life; her mother is a screenwriter (Carolina Rivera), her father a producer/ director (Fernando Sariñana) and it doesn’t stop there… she is the niece of Mexican actress Angelica Rivera.  So as you can see she was bound to become a child actor.
Her passion of music came along when she was young. A huge fan of Ella Fitzgerald, Sariñana, was just 2 years old when her dad took her to her first jazz concert.  Ximena has said in past interviews, “Maybe it’s how I grew up. I was always working and surrounded by people way older than me… When I was a kid my parents would take me to concerts … and jazz became the musical genre I gravitated toward the most.” Her love of music evolved and she was later enrolled in singing lessons at the age of 7. At the age of 9 she acted in Hasta Morir, produced by her father, and at by 11 she was acting in telenovelas. It was a natural progression.

Ximena has kept busy in the years since, continuing to act in telenovelas and film as well as scoring music for film, earning a scholarship to Berklee College of Music, and finally, releasing her first album last year. Mediocre debuted to much acclaim, landing directly on the Mexican Top 100 Albums Chart at #19. A smart blend of alternative, pop/rock and vocal jazz, the album nabbed her nominations in both the Grammy and Latin Grammy.

You can check out her music on her MySpace page and on ITunes I promise you will not be disappointed.  Although her album is in Spanish she did through in 1 song in English entitled “Pajaritos” and I love it.  So check out her album and I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.myspace.com/ximenamusic

By Nydia Barriga