Lila Downs
Lila Downs (born the September 19th 1968 with Tlaxiaco) is a Mexican singer . She sings her own compositions in mixtèque, in zapotèque, Maya and Nahuatl.
Biography
It is the girl of Allen Downs, American of Scottish origin, operator chief and professor of art in Mineapolis and a mixtèque singer. She grew partly in the State d' Oaxaca and, to adolescence, in California then, adult, went to study the song and the ethnology. In 1993, it meets the saxophonist Paul Cohen who becomes his companion.
It took as a starting point the music by singer or musicians such as Los Tigres del Norte, Lucha Reyes, Lola Beltrán, Jose Alfredo Jiménez, but also of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billy Holliday, John Coltrane and Miles Davis and of the Grateful Dead. It is also a singer engaged for the cause of the children, in particular exploited in the will maquiladoras which locate at the border between Mexico and the United States. Many of its songs speak about these poor children. It is the case of the niña which tells the life of small Mexican named Rosa Maria.
Its personal interpretations, at the same time burning and interiorized standards of the song Ranchera made it famous. Its recordings of indigenous songs of Mexico aspire to fight against the disappearance of minority cultures . Its personal texts speak about the emigration in the United States and the mojados , racism and poverty in Mexico.
It composes with brilliance part of with the music of the film Frida devoted to Frida Kahlo, in duet with Caetano Veloso, at the side of songs of Chavela Vargas.
Discography
- Sandunga , 1997,1999.
- Tree off Life - Árbol of emptied - Yutu touched , 1999.
- Border - Línea , 2001.
- Frida (music of film of Julie Taymor), 2002.
- One Blood - Una Sangre , 2004.
- Cantina , 2006.
All the albums of Lila Downs are published under the label discographic NARADA