Lila Downs Albums (7)
'Shake Away/Ojo de Culebra'
Release Date 1/1/2008
Tracks 16
Label EMI
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Lila Downs' Shake Away is easily the most polished and refined release since she released Ofrenda in 1994. By turns, it is also the most ambitious. Co-produced by Downs, longtime collaborators Paul Cohen, Brian Lynch, and Aneiro Taño, these 16 songs (13 plus three bonus cuts) are a wild mix of cumbias, folks songs, rancheras, blues, and rock tunes that are originals and covers. The latter include an excellent and wildly unusual reading of "Black Magic Woman" with songwriter/guitarist Raul Midón. There is a fine version of Paul Buchanan's (of Blue Nile fame) "I Would Never," and a stunning version of Lucinda Williams' "I Envy the Wind" (offered twice -- in Spanish and in English) with a fine muted trumpet solo by Brian Lynch. Her jumping take on the traditional "Los Pollos" is sung with Mono Blanco's Gilberto Guiterrez, and on "Justicia," Downs is joined by Spanish rocker Enrique Bunbury. The great Israeli-American jazz clarinetist Anat Cohen also helps out on three cuts. Rubén Isaac Albarrán Ortega (also known as "Ixaya Mazatzin Tleytól" of Café Tacuba) helps out on her original "Perro Negro" ("Black Dog"), a mystical, folk-drenched polka that references corrupt leaders in Latin America -- but could stand in for them anywhere. That said, the most rewarding collaborative effort on the set is the duet between Downs and the great Mercedes Sosa on Downs' "Tierra de Luz." But duets and collaboration aren't the only focus of this album; in fact, it's a sprawling set of tunes whose reach is almost limitless: "Silent Thunder" employs both reggae and funk but combines them with traditionally informed Mixtec chants. The skittering, scattershot blues of "Minimum Wage" offers a new element in Downs' recorded vocabulary -- with great guitar work by Ken Basman and Juancho Herrera. Downs' band, a sextet that includes Paul Cohen on saxophones and clarinet, the great Mexican multi-instrumentalist Celso Duarte, Rob Curto on accordion, Herrera on guitars, bassist Booker King, Chilean drummer/percussionist Yayo, and Columbian percussionist Samuel Torres prove an international cast of players who all speak Downs' ambitious multi-textural, trans-genre brand of music that, at this messy juncture in history, blurs all the lines to offer a massively appealing aural entity. Despite her wide-reaching compositions, and the referencing of American and British pop artists, Downs is no less political, and makes no compromises. One listen to her originals confirms and underscores this. This is the record we've been waiting for from Downs; it succeeds on all fronts and deepens her canon immeasurably. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Mexican-American singer Lila Downs, who grew up shuttling between homes in Minnesota and Mexico, caught the attention of the general public with her performance in the film Frida. Those who turn to this album for more of what they heard there won't be disappointed, but they may be a little bit startled by the rhythm loops and subtle electronic effects that weave in and out of the traditional instrumentation over which she sings this wonderful program of Mexican ranchera songs. Downs' dark, smoky voice is the perfect vehicle for these songs, which juxtapose the deep emotion of fado and mariachi music with norteño and tejano influences (notable especially on those songs that feature the legendary Texas accordionist Flaco Jimenez). Everywhere you turn there are deeper complexities lurking beneath the already complicated surfaces of the songs: the quietly wailing clarinet that follows the distorted guitar solo on "Agua de Rosas"; the ska-funk inflections that are constantly hovering around the edges of "Tu Recuerdo y Yo"; the dubwise phase-shifting effects on "Cumbia del Mole" (a song that explains how to make one of the more popular Mexican sauces, and which is helpfully performed in both Spanish and English versions). On "Arboles de la Barranca" the horns are over the top even by Latin standards, but so what? Over the top is half the fun. Very highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
'Una Sangre (One Blood)'
Release Date 6/15/2004
Tracks 13
Label Narada
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Una Sangre (One Blood), Lila Downs' fourth album for the Narada label, is her most restless. Downs is best known to American audiences for her appearance in the film Frida (about the legendary Mexican painter Frida Kahlo) and her major contribution to the film's soundtrack. She has long been in the trenches knitting the indigenous music of her native lands -- Mexico and the United States -- into a sonic fabric where traditional Mexican folk songs, richly textured pop, and American blues and jazz music mix with Spanish and English lyrics that also contain Mexico's Mayan, Zapotec, Nahuatl, and Mixtec Indian dialects. Downs' previous recordings have always been deeply satisfying; they combine a musicologist's world with the fiery heart of an activist poet. Una Sangre is the next step. Here, over the course of 13 songs, she takes a wondrously heady mix and deepens it with other musical elements that come from further afield, and she goes off the deep end into something new and wondrous. She uses Middle Eastern modalities and melodies, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian rhythms, hip-hop cadences, and reggae and even gospel influences, and extrapolates into this mix a dazzling lyrical array, adding Purepecha, an Indian dialect from the central Michoacan region, and Trique, an actual language from one of the 16 divergent ethnic groups who coexist in Oaxaca! Her husband, saxophonist and musical director Paul Cohen (from New Jersey) has woven a tight-knit group of multi-instrumentalists who come from the U.S., Paraguay/Mexico (Celso Duarte), Cuba (Junior Terry Cabrera), Chile (Yayo), and Brazil (Guilherme Monteiro), with guest appearances by Mexican and American guitarists Ernesto Anaya and Marvin Sewell, as well as the renowned Japanese percussionist Satoshi Takeishi. Downs' confidence is remarkable. Her readings of age-old folk songs like "La Bamba" and "La Cucaracha" remove the racist novelty and caricature character they have been saddled with outside Mexico, and restate them with their original ferocity and dignity as communal songs. On the title cut, her band employs dread reggae and she a dry, smoky jazz vocal that is nothing less than sultry and stretches the melody to the point of fissure. "Mother Jones" uses Delta-style blues gospel as a way of slipping into the murk of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, while "Cielo Rojo" can only be called a Spanish desert blues, with three very different guitars carrying on above the subtle rhythms and Downs' mournful voice coming from the throaty dust and reaching a steamy falsetto that contains all the sorrow in the world. There are no respites from excellence and no false starts on Una Sangre; it is a most daring set performed with passion, focus, and vision. It offers the listener not only considerable pleasure, but the possibility for a new musical paradigm as well. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Border (La Linea)'
Release Date 7/3/2001
Tracks 15
Label Narada World
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Lila Downs' second release for Narada World reflects her continuing fascination with Mexican-American border culture. Considering her own mixed heritage (she is the child of a Mixtec Indian and an American), Downs has a special interest here, and it shows in the emotional, directed singing of Border (La Linea). On the first few tracks, Downs' thick, throaty voice is on a par with the Latina pioneers Lola Beltran or Toña La Negra, but she also displays an enviable range, switching over to thewail of a Mexican countrywoman on "Sale Sobrando" and "Cumbia Maya," then to the pure, heartfelt sound of American country for the moving "Pastures of Plenty/This Land Is Your Land." Though non-Spanish speaking listeners may not understand the themes Lila Downs deals with, the plangent tones of her voice are reason enough to enjoy Border (La Linea). ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Downs' remarkable voice has been compared to both Cesaria Evora and Susana Baca, combining operatic training and jazz chops, while maintaining her Mixtec Indian heritage and incorporating music from many different Latin cultures. Inquisitive fans of worldbeat music will want to investigate Tree of Life. ~ Al Campbell, All Music Guide
