Lila Downs (born Ana Lila Downs Sánchez on 9 September 1969 in Tlaxiaco) is… Read Full Bio ↴Lila Downs (born Ana Lila Downs Sánchez on 9 September 1969 in Tlaxiaco) is a Mexican singer and actress. She performs her own compositions and the works of others in multiple genres, as well as tapping into Mexican traditional and popular music.
Downs grew up there and in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She began singing ranchera music at an early age, and later sang at the fiestas of the towns in her mountain region, la Mixteca. She sang with the band Los Cadetes de Yodoyuxi and later with La Trova Serrana, a group of folk musicians from the Zapotec town of Guelatao, Oaxaca. At that time she met her musical collaborator Paul Cohen and began to create her own musical compositions, which tap into native Mesoamerican music of the Mixtec, Zapotec, Maya and Nahuatl cultures. Cohen went on to become both Downs's husband and her artistic director.
Downs is the daughter of Mixtec cabaret singer Anita Sánchez and Allen Downs, a Scottish/English-American professor of art and cinematographer from Minnesota. She grew up partly in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, partly in California as a teen, and Minnesota as an adult where she studied voice and social anthropology at the University of Minnesota. She also studied in a school of fine arts (Bellas Artes) in Oaxaca when she later returned to Mexico where she learned to weave.
In following the years, Downs and her band toured widely in Mexico, South America, the US and Europe. She was also heard in a duet with Caetano Veloso for the soundtrack to the movie Frida in a song, Burn it Blue, that was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song and that she performed at the 75th Academy Awards. Other songs that she performed on the soundtrack are "Benediction and Dream," "Estrella Oscura," and "La Llorona." Other movies with a Lila Downs song are Tortilla Soup, Real Women Have Curves and Fados by Carlos Saura. She was also invited to the Twelve Girls Band's concert in Shanghai, where she sings in French and English. Downs is currently based in Coyoacán, a borough of Mexico City.
Downs 2008 album is "Ojo de Culebra / Shake Away" and includes "I Envy The Wind" (song) by Lucinda Williams and "I Would Never" by The Blue Nile. She also collaborates with artists like La Mari (singer) from Chambao (band) and Enrique Bunbury from Héroes del Silencio.
Getting closer to the "real" story, here's a poignant, fascinating bio of Lila Downs, by an excellent writer:
Lila Downs: With a Song in Her Soul
Lorenza Muñoz, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Lila Downs OAXACA, Mexico--Lila Downs knelt onstage, as if in prayer, in a dark auditorium, only a few dim lights reflected off her onyx-black hair and ruby-red lips. Before a hometown crowd, she directed her prayer-like song to La Llorona. Downs' powerful voice echoed off the stage. Suddenly she became La Llorona--a mythical woman said to haunt the river valleys of Mexico, weeping and moaning for her children whom she drowned in a fit of madness. Her story has been repeated for centuries in Mexican folklore, with a little variation but always the same tragic feeling.
The hushed audience watched her, transfixed, as she knelt in her traditional silk black and red blouse, a huipil, calling out in agony and adoration to the ghost of La Llorona:
You came out of the church one day Llorona and I saw you pass by Such a beautiful huipil you were wearing, Llorona that I thought you were the virgin. Oh my Llorona, Llorona dressed in a celestial blue And even if it costs me my life, Llorona, I will not stop adoring you.
Lila DownsShe ended her song, and for several seconds the audience members seemed not to breathe or move until they heaved a collective sigh. They had been transported to an imaginary place. They had just experienced Lila Downs at her best.
If Downs' performances are marked by anything, it is an uncanny ability to become the character of a song. Whether it is La Llorona, or a sensual jazz singer of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" in flawless English, or a coquettish Mexican singing a bolero, or a native Indian conveying the sad stories of Mexico's Mixtec, Nahuatl or Zapotec cultures in their languages, Downs discovers a part of herself in the essence in each song. She is a reflection of a 21st century world culture where ethnicity and national boundaries are blurred.
The 32-year-old is best known in Los Angeles for her electrifying performance at last year's World Festival of Sacred Music. Downs received a standing ovation that night, an honor given to only one other festival participant--the Dalai Lama.
Lila DownsShe has sung before packed houses at the Getty and at LunaPark. In 1998, she performed live on KPFK-FM (90.7). The CD of that performance, a modest endeavor with only acoustic guitar and piano accompaniment, has been the biggest-selling benefit album in KPFK history, said operations director Betto Arcos. At the Sacred Music Festival, "she was singing in Mixtec, Maya, Nahuatl and she stole the heart of not just Latinos but everyone," Arcos said.
A relative newcomer to the music scene, with only two albums released, Downs and her band recently signed a deal with Narada/Virgin records, a company that also distributes other global music acts and labels, including Peter Gabriel's Real World and David Byrne's Luaka Bop. Her first album for Narada, tentatively scheduled for release Aug. 29, will be original songs written by Downs inspired by border life. The music will include cumbias, rancheras and other eclectic mixes. Monday, Downs returns to Los Angeles for a performance at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. Downs' bicultural background, her exotic beauty and startling voice, in addition to the growing popularity of world music, could position her to reach international success.
"I was struck by her voice and the commitment that she has made to her cultural background--she integrates it in a very modern way that makes it accessible," said Richard Denhart, senior director of artists and repertoire for Narada. "I think of her as a developing artist. She really has no track record, and so it is a challenge to get her to the United States as much as possible to get her music out."
Indeed, having sung professionally for only seven years, she is still ironing out the kinks in her voice. Some critics say her eclectic song selection and arrangement obstruct the flow of her albums. To get to the next level, they believe, she must refine her performances and find a top-notch producer.
"She doesn't have a perfect voice, but she sure can perform," said Tom Schnabel, host of "Cafe L.A." on KCRW-FM (89.9). "Her strength is the way she can win a crowd. Look, Maria Callas used to blow notes right and left, but she would also blow an audience away. Same with Lila. She has a hell of a lot of stage presence. She can emote and be very dramatic."
Drama has been a constant presence in Lila Downs' life. There is an aura about her that suggests something ethereal. She is thin, with thick straight hair pulled tight into two braids often decorated by the brightly colored ribbons of her native Oaxacan Zapotec and Mixtec Indian culture--a look that has existed for centuries, but which painter Frida Kahlo popularized in the 1930s. Wearing no makeup, she dons only a dark cherry or red lipstick when she performs. Her skin, a light olive shade that allows for very light freckles to form on her nose, is in stark contrast to her dark hair, ink-black eyes and arched eyebrows. Her scent is of a musk oil, sensually perfuming the air around her.
Downs' mother, Anita, a willful, intelligent woman, decided at an early age that she would escape the chains of her ancient village. Born in San Miguel El Grande, deep in the mountains of Oaxaca, Anita was married off to an abusive man at age 15. One night as her husband snored off the day's drunken adventure, she escaped to Mexico City, literally barefoot, penniless and barely able to speak Spanish.
Being a quick study, Anita became fluent in Spanish, though never forgetting her native Mixtec. Being a striking beauty, she quickly found a job singing at a cabaret.
It was there one night in 1961 that Allen Downs appeared in her life. An adventurous professor of art and cinematography, Downs had come to Mexico to film the flight of the blue-winged teal from Canada to the Yucatan Peninsula. But when he set his eyes on Anita, Downs quickly forgot about the ducks.
"He had never seen a Mixtequita like me," recalled Anita, in slightly accented Spanish, laughing at the memory. "Even though he didn't speak Spanish and I didn't speak English, we understood each other."
There was one little snag in their love affair, however. Allen Downs was married. Within a few years, he secured a divorce, moved to Mexico City and married Anita. He wanted to have a baby right away. Wanting to make sure her husband was responsible and would stick around, however, Anita decided to wait. She waited seven years.
Finally, in 1968, their baby girl, named Lila, was born.
Lila lived a double life. Oaxaca was too remote for their daughter, so her father brought her as a teen to Southern California, where his brother lived. At Rowland Heights High School, she learned to read and write English perfectly. Anita opted to stay home in Mexico. So Downs spent most of her teenage years with her father.
When she graduated from high school, she came home to Oaxaca. But here, her identity crisis began setting in. She saw the uglier, racist, envious side of Mexico. Who was this strange child of a strapping, white American father and a petite, bronze-colored Indian mother? In a country still suffering from the scars of many conquests over the Indians, Downs was the personification of everything many Mexicans loathe and yet desperately want to be.
"It was very, very hard," Downs recollected. "I think what I do artistically had a lot to do with me as a person. I was very confused."
Her neighbors would tease her. "You're the little Indian's daughter," the children would taunt. "Yankee go home," they would write in graffiti on the family house.
She sang, but only to her mother. The notion of performing publicly was embarrassing; it reminded her of the way her mother had made a living standing on nightclub tables, surrounded by drunkards.
Suddenly one day, while taking a nap during a visit to Oaxaca, Allen Downs died of a heart attack at 68. Downs, 16 at the time, was the only other person in the house. His death is a topic she still finds difficult to talk about. She flew into a rebellion, angry that her father was dead, taking it out on her mother who in her eyes was helpless, almost submissive to the discrimination she faced in a society that resents its Indian ancestry.
"Up to that point I had spent time with my dad--the white guy," Downs said. "I realized that people treated me better because I was with a man--and [especially] a white man. And then suddenly I was left with my Indian mommy. I couldn't handle it. How could I deal with the fact that my mother speaks with a thick accent because her first language was Mixtec? I was ashamed of my Indian roots."
Lila Downs Two years later, she fled to her father's native state of Minnesota for college and buried herself in studies. She studied voice and anthropology until her junior year, but then she became disillusioned. She dropped out for about a year and became a Deadhead, living and breathing the cult-like fascination with the Grateful Dead. Soon she realized she had stopped feeling and thinking for herself. She was, she recalls, like a stoned, unbathed android, unable to put her own emotions to life. She stopped singing--not a note--thinking it a vain and superficial exercise.
Her mother, an elegant, finely kept woman, was horrified.
"I never thought she would dress like that--or that a human being would dress like that and smell like that!" Anita recalled, her eyes widening in disdain. "Her boyfriend had so much hair, he looked like a lamb."
To Lila, that stage in her life was inevitable. "It was good because it was like shedding a skin and going through a growing process which we all go through one way or another."
After two years of therapy and serious introspection, Downs snapped out of the Deadhead mode, returned to the University of Minnesota and received her degrees in voice and anthropology in 1991. But she still felt she was searching for something. She was still unable to sing. It was not until she returned to Mexico that she found the healing qualities of music.
Through music, Downs discovered herself, her Mexican and Indian heritage.
But her link would be soaked in the tragedy that has haunted the Indians of Oaxaca for centuries. Even before the Spanish conquest, her mother's people had been overrun, first by the Zapotecs--a neighboring Indian civilization--and then by the Aztecs, who changed their language, stole their gold and imposed their ways. Today, Oaxaca's enemy is poverty.
One day, home in Oaxaca, Downs was asked by her fellow Mixtecos to translate death certificates in English to their language. Many of their boys who had crossed the border into the United States searching for work had died. And though their bodies had been shipped back to their native land, their relatives wanted to know how they had died.
It was so powerful, being this translator of death. She had to sing about it, to honor these boys with so little time on Earth. She composed "Ofrenda" (Offering).
"It took a long time to decide that I wanted to sing," she said. "I needed something that was a little more intellectual and that motivated me. That is why I started to write."
In 1993, she resumed singing, performing in Oaxacan nightclubs, where she met Paul Cohen, an American saxophonist from the East Coast. They hit it off, becoming romantically involved and collaborating musically. Cohen is today the chief arranger of Downs' songs. With his encouragement she explored the grand Mexican ballads, the rancheras, the boleros, the ancient codices of the Mixtecs and Zapotecs and put them to music. Her mother encouraged her to dig deep for that emotion--sentimiento--she possessed but never really brought out.
Indeed, most audiences seem to forgive her occasional vocal missteps. This was true during a February performance in Oaxaca, where her most fervent fans have rare occasion to see her live. Although she lives in Mexico City, she is considering moving permanently to Los Angeles. Lately, as her fame has increased, her time at home in Oaxaca has been reduced to a few weekends a year. So, many of her friends and relatives, who had come to see their local girl sing on this cool night, brought their affection and love, showering her with flowers and accolades. Her fans, mind you, were not only Oaxacans. A group of visiting Minnesotans heard one of their own was singing that night.
"We flew in from Minneapolis and we are just as proud as peacocks!" said Marge Nordstrom as she shook Downs' hand backstage. "I'm a music teacher, so I know what I heard. We certainly hope you come to Minneapolis soon."
Downs graciously shook everyone's hand, accepted the roses she was handed by petite Indian girls looking up to her as a near-idol. Though smiling, her exhaustion and nervousness was visible on her face. "It is like dying a little bit every time you do pieces like 'La Llorona' because they mean so much to people," she said later. "It's like a love song to death."
The idea of fame makes her uncomfortable. It brings new questions: As her popularity increases, will she be able to handle the demands on her time? Will the new record company force her to sing music that is more popular but not as heartfelt? Without her heart and soul into it, she knows she could never continue singing.
"I never appreciated being a vocalist. I thought it was so superficial," Downs said. "You have to find the spirit to the songs, otherwise it doesn't matter how pretty you sing. I can't quite explain what it is, but I think it has something to do with getting to know yourself and feeling right about what you're doing."
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Discography
* Chacala, (2011 ? segunda parte de Ojo De Culebra - not released yet)
* Lila Downs y La Misteriosa "en París Live à Fip" (2010)
* Shake Away/Ojo De Culebra (Manhattan Records 2008)
* The Very Best Of El Alma de Lila Downs CD+DVD (EMI 2008)
* La Cantina (Narada 2006)
* Una Sangre (One Blood) (Narada 2004)
* Border (La Linea) (Narada 2001)
* Tree of Life (Yutu tata) (Narada 2000)
* La Sandunga (Narada 1999)
* Azuláo: En Vivo con Lida Downs (1996)
* Ofrenda (1994)
* The Very Best Of El Alma de Lila Downs (DVD Madrid en vivo) (EMI, 2008)
* Lotería Cantada (DVD November 2006)
Lila Downs has one of the world’s most singular voices and innovative approaches to music. She is the daughter of a Mixtec Indian woman, Anastasia Sanchez, who ran away from her village at 15 to sing in Mexico City cantinas and a University of Minnesota professor Allen Downs, who saw her singing and fell in love.
Lila grew up both in Minnesota and Oaxaca, and her music and vocal artistry has many influences, including the folk and ranchera music of Mexico and South America and American folk, jazz, blues and hip-hop. Many of her lyrics focus on issues relating to social justice, and often tell the stories of the workers who migrate from rural Mexico to work in the U.S. She studied classical voice and cultural anthropology at the University of Minnesota. “The Mexican American singer has a stunning voice, a confident multicultural vision grounded in her Mixtec Indian roots,” Los Angeles Times. “Ms. Downs has multiple voices, from an airborne near-falsetto down to a forthright alto and a sultry, emotive contralto,” New York Times.
She and her husband / longtime collaborator, Paul Cohen, have produced 10 studio albums, with “Pecados y Milagros” having earned both a Grammy and a Latin Grammy award, and achieving double-platinum in sales in Mexico. She received her first Latin Grammy for the 2004 release, “Una Sangre.” Her current project, “RAÍZ,” is a collaboration with Argentinian singer Soledad Pastorutti and Spanish flamenco singer La Niña Pastori. This album has garnered two 2014 Latin Grammy nominations for “Album of the Year” and “Best Folk Album.”
Lila Downs has performed at many of the world’s most prestigious festivals and venues including Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and the Festival of Sacred Music – Hollywood Bowl. She has been invited to sing at the White House, and performed on the 75th Annual Academy Awards and the 2012 Latin Grammy Awards televised ceremonies.
Her music has also been included in several feature films such as “The Counselor”, “Tortilla Soup,” “Real Women Have Curves,” “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,” Carlos Saura’s “Fados,” “Mariachi Gringo” and “Hecho en Mexico”.
Discography
2015 Balas y Chocolate
2014 Raíz / Sony Music Entertainment (2 Latin Grammy nominations)
2012 Pecados y Milagros (Latin Grammy / Grammy)
2010 Lila Downs y La Misteriosa en París Live À FIP
2009 El Alma de Lila Downs
2008 Ojo de Culebra (Shake Away) (Grammy Nomination)
2006 La Cantina
2004 Una Sangre (One Blood) (Latin Grammy )
2001 La Línea (The Border)
2000 Árbol de la Vida (Yutu tata)
1999 La Sandunga
1996 Azuláo: En vivo con Lila Downs
1994 Ofrenda
Downs grew up there and in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She began singing ranchera music at an early age, and later sang at the fiestas of the towns in her mountain region, la Mixteca. She sang with the band Los Cadetes de Yodoyuxi and later with La Trova Serrana, a group of folk musicians from the Zapotec town of Guelatao, Oaxaca. At that time she met her musical collaborator Paul Cohen and began to create her own musical compositions, which tap into native Mesoamerican music of the Mixtec, Zapotec, Maya and Nahuatl cultures. Cohen went on to become both Downs's husband and her artistic director.
Downs is the daughter of Mixtec cabaret singer Anita Sánchez and Allen Downs, a Scottish/English-American professor of art and cinematographer from Minnesota. She grew up partly in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, partly in California as a teen, and Minnesota as an adult where she studied voice and social anthropology at the University of Minnesota. She also studied in a school of fine arts (Bellas Artes) in Oaxaca when she later returned to Mexico where she learned to weave.
In following the years, Downs and her band toured widely in Mexico, South America, the US and Europe. She was also heard in a duet with Caetano Veloso for the soundtrack to the movie Frida in a song, Burn it Blue, that was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song and that she performed at the 75th Academy Awards. Other songs that she performed on the soundtrack are "Benediction and Dream," "Estrella Oscura," and "La Llorona." Other movies with a Lila Downs song are Tortilla Soup, Real Women Have Curves and Fados by Carlos Saura. She was also invited to the Twelve Girls Band's concert in Shanghai, where she sings in French and English. Downs is currently based in Coyoacán, a borough of Mexico City.
Downs 2008 album is "Ojo de Culebra / Shake Away" and includes "I Envy The Wind" (song) by Lucinda Williams and "I Would Never" by The Blue Nile. She also collaborates with artists like La Mari (singer) from Chambao (band) and Enrique Bunbury from Héroes del Silencio.
Getting closer to the "real" story, here's a poignant, fascinating bio of Lila Downs, by an excellent writer:
Lila Downs: With a Song in Her Soul
Lorenza Muñoz, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Lila Downs OAXACA, Mexico--Lila Downs knelt onstage, as if in prayer, in a dark auditorium, only a few dim lights reflected off her onyx-black hair and ruby-red lips. Before a hometown crowd, she directed her prayer-like song to La Llorona. Downs' powerful voice echoed off the stage. Suddenly she became La Llorona--a mythical woman said to haunt the river valleys of Mexico, weeping and moaning for her children whom she drowned in a fit of madness. Her story has been repeated for centuries in Mexican folklore, with a little variation but always the same tragic feeling.
The hushed audience watched her, transfixed, as she knelt in her traditional silk black and red blouse, a huipil, calling out in agony and adoration to the ghost of La Llorona:
You came out of the church one day Llorona and I saw you pass by Such a beautiful huipil you were wearing, Llorona that I thought you were the virgin. Oh my Llorona, Llorona dressed in a celestial blue And even if it costs me my life, Llorona, I will not stop adoring you.
Lila DownsShe ended her song, and for several seconds the audience members seemed not to breathe or move until they heaved a collective sigh. They had been transported to an imaginary place. They had just experienced Lila Downs at her best.
If Downs' performances are marked by anything, it is an uncanny ability to become the character of a song. Whether it is La Llorona, or a sensual jazz singer of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" in flawless English, or a coquettish Mexican singing a bolero, or a native Indian conveying the sad stories of Mexico's Mixtec, Nahuatl or Zapotec cultures in their languages, Downs discovers a part of herself in the essence in each song. She is a reflection of a 21st century world culture where ethnicity and national boundaries are blurred.
The 32-year-old is best known in Los Angeles for her electrifying performance at last year's World Festival of Sacred Music. Downs received a standing ovation that night, an honor given to only one other festival participant--the Dalai Lama.
Lila DownsShe has sung before packed houses at the Getty and at LunaPark. In 1998, she performed live on KPFK-FM (90.7). The CD of that performance, a modest endeavor with only acoustic guitar and piano accompaniment, has been the biggest-selling benefit album in KPFK history, said operations director Betto Arcos. At the Sacred Music Festival, "she was singing in Mixtec, Maya, Nahuatl and she stole the heart of not just Latinos but everyone," Arcos said.
A relative newcomer to the music scene, with only two albums released, Downs and her band recently signed a deal with Narada/Virgin records, a company that also distributes other global music acts and labels, including Peter Gabriel's Real World and David Byrne's Luaka Bop. Her first album for Narada, tentatively scheduled for release Aug. 29, will be original songs written by Downs inspired by border life. The music will include cumbias, rancheras and other eclectic mixes. Monday, Downs returns to Los Angeles for a performance at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. Downs' bicultural background, her exotic beauty and startling voice, in addition to the growing popularity of world music, could position her to reach international success.
"I was struck by her voice and the commitment that she has made to her cultural background--she integrates it in a very modern way that makes it accessible," said Richard Denhart, senior director of artists and repertoire for Narada. "I think of her as a developing artist. She really has no track record, and so it is a challenge to get her to the United States as much as possible to get her music out."
Indeed, having sung professionally for only seven years, she is still ironing out the kinks in her voice. Some critics say her eclectic song selection and arrangement obstruct the flow of her albums. To get to the next level, they believe, she must refine her performances and find a top-notch producer.
"She doesn't have a perfect voice, but she sure can perform," said Tom Schnabel, host of "Cafe L.A." on KCRW-FM (89.9). "Her strength is the way she can win a crowd. Look, Maria Callas used to blow notes right and left, but she would also blow an audience away. Same with Lila. She has a hell of a lot of stage presence. She can emote and be very dramatic."
Drama has been a constant presence in Lila Downs' life. There is an aura about her that suggests something ethereal. She is thin, with thick straight hair pulled tight into two braids often decorated by the brightly colored ribbons of her native Oaxacan Zapotec and Mixtec Indian culture--a look that has existed for centuries, but which painter Frida Kahlo popularized in the 1930s. Wearing no makeup, she dons only a dark cherry or red lipstick when she performs. Her skin, a light olive shade that allows for very light freckles to form on her nose, is in stark contrast to her dark hair, ink-black eyes and arched eyebrows. Her scent is of a musk oil, sensually perfuming the air around her.
Downs' mother, Anita, a willful, intelligent woman, decided at an early age that she would escape the chains of her ancient village. Born in San Miguel El Grande, deep in the mountains of Oaxaca, Anita was married off to an abusive man at age 15. One night as her husband snored off the day's drunken adventure, she escaped to Mexico City, literally barefoot, penniless and barely able to speak Spanish.
Being a quick study, Anita became fluent in Spanish, though never forgetting her native Mixtec. Being a striking beauty, she quickly found a job singing at a cabaret.
It was there one night in 1961 that Allen Downs appeared in her life. An adventurous professor of art and cinematography, Downs had come to Mexico to film the flight of the blue-winged teal from Canada to the Yucatan Peninsula. But when he set his eyes on Anita, Downs quickly forgot about the ducks.
"He had never seen a Mixtequita like me," recalled Anita, in slightly accented Spanish, laughing at the memory. "Even though he didn't speak Spanish and I didn't speak English, we understood each other."
There was one little snag in their love affair, however. Allen Downs was married. Within a few years, he secured a divorce, moved to Mexico City and married Anita. He wanted to have a baby right away. Wanting to make sure her husband was responsible and would stick around, however, Anita decided to wait. She waited seven years.
Finally, in 1968, their baby girl, named Lila, was born.
Lila lived a double life. Oaxaca was too remote for their daughter, so her father brought her as a teen to Southern California, where his brother lived. At Rowland Heights High School, she learned to read and write English perfectly. Anita opted to stay home in Mexico. So Downs spent most of her teenage years with her father.
When she graduated from high school, she came home to Oaxaca. But here, her identity crisis began setting in. She saw the uglier, racist, envious side of Mexico. Who was this strange child of a strapping, white American father and a petite, bronze-colored Indian mother? In a country still suffering from the scars of many conquests over the Indians, Downs was the personification of everything many Mexicans loathe and yet desperately want to be.
"It was very, very hard," Downs recollected. "I think what I do artistically had a lot to do with me as a person. I was very confused."
Her neighbors would tease her. "You're the little Indian's daughter," the children would taunt. "Yankee go home," they would write in graffiti on the family house.
She sang, but only to her mother. The notion of performing publicly was embarrassing; it reminded her of the way her mother had made a living standing on nightclub tables, surrounded by drunkards.
Suddenly one day, while taking a nap during a visit to Oaxaca, Allen Downs died of a heart attack at 68. Downs, 16 at the time, was the only other person in the house. His death is a topic she still finds difficult to talk about. She flew into a rebellion, angry that her father was dead, taking it out on her mother who in her eyes was helpless, almost submissive to the discrimination she faced in a society that resents its Indian ancestry.
"Up to that point I had spent time with my dad--the white guy," Downs said. "I realized that people treated me better because I was with a man--and [especially] a white man. And then suddenly I was left with my Indian mommy. I couldn't handle it. How could I deal with the fact that my mother speaks with a thick accent because her first language was Mixtec? I was ashamed of my Indian roots."
Lila Downs Two years later, she fled to her father's native state of Minnesota for college and buried herself in studies. She studied voice and anthropology until her junior year, but then she became disillusioned. She dropped out for about a year and became a Deadhead, living and breathing the cult-like fascination with the Grateful Dead. Soon she realized she had stopped feeling and thinking for herself. She was, she recalls, like a stoned, unbathed android, unable to put her own emotions to life. She stopped singing--not a note--thinking it a vain and superficial exercise.
Her mother, an elegant, finely kept woman, was horrified.
"I never thought she would dress like that--or that a human being would dress like that and smell like that!" Anita recalled, her eyes widening in disdain. "Her boyfriend had so much hair, he looked like a lamb."
To Lila, that stage in her life was inevitable. "It was good because it was like shedding a skin and going through a growing process which we all go through one way or another."
After two years of therapy and serious introspection, Downs snapped out of the Deadhead mode, returned to the University of Minnesota and received her degrees in voice and anthropology in 1991. But she still felt she was searching for something. She was still unable to sing. It was not until she returned to Mexico that she found the healing qualities of music.
Through music, Downs discovered herself, her Mexican and Indian heritage.
But her link would be soaked in the tragedy that has haunted the Indians of Oaxaca for centuries. Even before the Spanish conquest, her mother's people had been overrun, first by the Zapotecs--a neighboring Indian civilization--and then by the Aztecs, who changed their language, stole their gold and imposed their ways. Today, Oaxaca's enemy is poverty.
One day, home in Oaxaca, Downs was asked by her fellow Mixtecos to translate death certificates in English to their language. Many of their boys who had crossed the border into the United States searching for work had died. And though their bodies had been shipped back to their native land, their relatives wanted to know how they had died.
It was so powerful, being this translator of death. She had to sing about it, to honor these boys with so little time on Earth. She composed "Ofrenda" (Offering).
"It took a long time to decide that I wanted to sing," she said. "I needed something that was a little more intellectual and that motivated me. That is why I started to write."
In 1993, she resumed singing, performing in Oaxacan nightclubs, where she met Paul Cohen, an American saxophonist from the East Coast. They hit it off, becoming romantically involved and collaborating musically. Cohen is today the chief arranger of Downs' songs. With his encouragement she explored the grand Mexican ballads, the rancheras, the boleros, the ancient codices of the Mixtecs and Zapotecs and put them to music. Her mother encouraged her to dig deep for that emotion--sentimiento--she possessed but never really brought out.
Indeed, most audiences seem to forgive her occasional vocal missteps. This was true during a February performance in Oaxaca, where her most fervent fans have rare occasion to see her live. Although she lives in Mexico City, she is considering moving permanently to Los Angeles. Lately, as her fame has increased, her time at home in Oaxaca has been reduced to a few weekends a year. So, many of her friends and relatives, who had come to see their local girl sing on this cool night, brought their affection and love, showering her with flowers and accolades. Her fans, mind you, were not only Oaxacans. A group of visiting Minnesotans heard one of their own was singing that night.
"We flew in from Minneapolis and we are just as proud as peacocks!" said Marge Nordstrom as she shook Downs' hand backstage. "I'm a music teacher, so I know what I heard. We certainly hope you come to Minneapolis soon."
Downs graciously shook everyone's hand, accepted the roses she was handed by petite Indian girls looking up to her as a near-idol. Though smiling, her exhaustion and nervousness was visible on her face. "It is like dying a little bit every time you do pieces like 'La Llorona' because they mean so much to people," she said later. "It's like a love song to death."
The idea of fame makes her uncomfortable. It brings new questions: As her popularity increases, will she be able to handle the demands on her time? Will the new record company force her to sing music that is more popular but not as heartfelt? Without her heart and soul into it, she knows she could never continue singing.
"I never appreciated being a vocalist. I thought it was so superficial," Downs said. "You have to find the spirit to the songs, otherwise it doesn't matter how pretty you sing. I can't quite explain what it is, but I think it has something to do with getting to know yourself and feeling right about what you're doing."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Discography
* Chacala, (2011 ? segunda parte de Ojo De Culebra - not released yet)
* Lila Downs y La Misteriosa "en París Live à Fip" (2010)
* Shake Away/Ojo De Culebra (Manhattan Records 2008)
* The Very Best Of El Alma de Lila Downs CD+DVD (EMI 2008)
* La Cantina (Narada 2006)
* Una Sangre (One Blood) (Narada 2004)
* Border (La Linea) (Narada 2001)
* Tree of Life (Yutu tata) (Narada 2000)
* La Sandunga (Narada 1999)
* Azuláo: En Vivo con Lida Downs (1996)
* Ofrenda (1994)
* The Very Best Of El Alma de Lila Downs (DVD Madrid en vivo) (EMI, 2008)
* Lotería Cantada (DVD November 2006)
Lila Downs has one of the world’s most singular voices and innovative approaches to music. She is the daughter of a Mixtec Indian woman, Anastasia Sanchez, who ran away from her village at 15 to sing in Mexico City cantinas and a University of Minnesota professor Allen Downs, who saw her singing and fell in love.
Lila grew up both in Minnesota and Oaxaca, and her music and vocal artistry has many influences, including the folk and ranchera music of Mexico and South America and American folk, jazz, blues and hip-hop. Many of her lyrics focus on issues relating to social justice, and often tell the stories of the workers who migrate from rural Mexico to work in the U.S. She studied classical voice and cultural anthropology at the University of Minnesota. “The Mexican American singer has a stunning voice, a confident multicultural vision grounded in her Mixtec Indian roots,” Los Angeles Times. “Ms. Downs has multiple voices, from an airborne near-falsetto down to a forthright alto and a sultry, emotive contralto,” New York Times.
She and her husband / longtime collaborator, Paul Cohen, have produced 10 studio albums, with “Pecados y Milagros” having earned both a Grammy and a Latin Grammy award, and achieving double-platinum in sales in Mexico. She received her first Latin Grammy for the 2004 release, “Una Sangre.” Her current project, “RAÍZ,” is a collaboration with Argentinian singer Soledad Pastorutti and Spanish flamenco singer La Niña Pastori. This album has garnered two 2014 Latin Grammy nominations for “Album of the Year” and “Best Folk Album.”
Lila Downs has performed at many of the world’s most prestigious festivals and venues including Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and the Festival of Sacred Music – Hollywood Bowl. She has been invited to sing at the White House, and performed on the 75th Annual Academy Awards and the 2012 Latin Grammy Awards televised ceremonies.
Her music has also been included in several feature films such as “The Counselor”, “Tortilla Soup,” “Real Women Have Curves,” “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,” Carlos Saura’s “Fados,” “Mariachi Gringo” and “Hecho en Mexico”.
Discography
2015 Balas y Chocolate
2014 Raíz / Sony Music Entertainment (2 Latin Grammy nominations)
2012 Pecados y Milagros (Latin Grammy / Grammy)
2010 Lila Downs y La Misteriosa en París Live À FIP
2009 El Alma de Lila Downs
2008 Ojo de Culebra (Shake Away) (Grammy Nomination)
2006 La Cantina
2004 Una Sangre (One Blood) (Latin Grammy )
2001 La Línea (The Border)
2000 Árbol de la Vida (Yutu tata)
1999 La Sandunga
1996 Azuláo: En vivo con Lila Downs
1994 Ofrenda
Palomo Del Comalito
Lila Downs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
La chula, la chulada de esta tierra
Muele ma, muele masa de maíz
Un mila, un milagro de sus manos
Amari, amarillo brillo ví
En tena, en tenate lleva de oro
De oro tier, de oro tierno de maíz
En tena, en tenate lleva de oro
De oro tierra, de oro tierno de maíz
Ya acabó, ya acabó mi sufrimiento
Ya no hay mal, no hay mal que dure cien años
Palomi, palomita vuela y dile que yo be,
Que yo beso aqui sus manos
Palomi, palomita vuela y dile que yo be,
Que yo beso aqui sus manos
Palomi, palomita canta un milagro
De la masa del humo de este comal
Tu que be, tu que bebiste mis lagrimas
De gra, de gra, de granitos de cristal
Palomi, palomita canta un milagro
De la masa del humo de este comal
Tu que be, tu que bebiste mis lagrimas
De gra, de gra, de granitos de cristal
Y milagros, y milagros de esta tierra
Y mujeres que sus manos alimentan
La que invi, la que invita aunque nada tenga
Y pelea por las cosas que si son buenas
La que invi, la que invita aunque nada tenga
Y pelea por las cosas que si son buenas
Palomi, palomita canta un milagro
De la masa del humo de este comal
Tu que be, tu que bebiste mis lagrimas
De gra, de gra, de granitos de cristal
Palomi, palomita canta un milagro
De la masa del humo de este comal
Tu que be, tu que bebiste mis lagrimas
De gra, de gra, de granitos de cristal
De gra, de gra, de granitos de cristal
De gra, de gra, de granitos de cristal
Muele ma, muele masa de maíz
Un mila, un milagro de sus manos
Amari, amarillo brillo ví
En tena, en tenate lleva de oro
De oro tier, de oro tierno de maíz
En tena, en tenate lleva de oro
De oro tierra, de oro tierno de maíz
Ya acabó, ya acabó mi sufrimiento
Ya no hay mal, no hay mal que dure cien años
Palomi, palomita vuela y dile que yo be,
Que yo beso aqui sus manos
Palomi, palomita vuela y dile que yo be,
Que yo beso aqui sus manos
Palomi, palomita canta un milagro
De la masa del humo de este comal
Tu que be, tu que bebiste mis lagrimas
De gra, de gra, de granitos de cristal
Palomi, palomita canta un milagro
De la masa del humo de este comal
Tu que be, tu que bebiste mis lagrimas
De gra, de gra, de granitos de cristal
Y milagros, y milagros de esta tierra
Y mujeres que sus manos alimentan
La que invi, la que invita aunque nada tenga
Y pelea por las cosas que si son buenas
La que invi, la que invita aunque nada tenga
Y pelea por las cosas que si son buenas
Palomi, palomita canta un milagro
De la masa del humo de este comal
Tu que be, tu que bebiste mis lagrimas
De gra, de gra, de granitos de cristal
Palomi, palomita canta un milagro
De la masa del humo de este comal
Tu que be, tu que bebiste mis lagrimas
De gra, de gra, de granitos de cristal
De gra, de gra, de granitos de cristal
De gra, de gra, de granitos de cristal
The song Palomo Del Comalito by Lila Downs celebrates the women who work tirelessly to provide for their families, often facing hardships and struggles. The song opens with an acknowledgment of the beauty and skill of the women as they grind maize and make tortillas. The golden color of the corn is compared to the shine on their hands as they work. The song speaks of the end of the singer's suffering and the hope that the message will be conveyed to a travelling bird, the Palomi. The bird is asked to tell the person the singer loves that they kiss her hands. The bird is also asked to sing a miracle of the dough on the smoke of the stove, a reference to the cooking process. The song ends by speaking of the miracles of the land and acknowledging the perseverance of the women who work hard and fight for what is worthy.
This song is a tribute to the powerful women of Mexico who work hard to make a living for their families. It celebrates the value of hard work, perseverance, and the simple pleasures of life like grinding maize and making tortillas. The singer acknowledges the many challenges faced by these women, including poverty and discrimination. The Palomi bird is used as a messenger of hope and love, a metaphor for the singer's own desires to be reunited with the woman he loves. The song is ultimately a celebration of life, of the miracles of the land, and of the people who work hard to make a living and fight for what is good and just.
Line by Line Meaning
La chula, la chulada de esta tierra
Referring to the beauty and the wonderful things that this land has to offer
Muele ma, muele masa de maíz
Grinding corn to make masa, which is used in many traditional dishes
Un mila, un milagro de sus manos
The creation of something miraculous with one's hands
Amari, amarillo brillo ví
A bright yellow color that shines
En tena, en tenate lleva de oro
A basket made of tenate that carries something valuable
De oro tier, de oro tierno de maíz
The preciousness of tender, freshly harvested corn
Ya acabó, ya acabó mi sufrimiento
The end of one's suffering
Ya no hay mal, no hay mal que dure cien años
No matter how long something bad may last, it will eventually come to an end
Palomi, palomita vuela y dile que yo be,
Sending a message to a little dove to tell someone that the singer is kissing their hands
Que yo beso aqui sus manos
The singer is showing affection and gratitude towards someone by kissing their hands
Palomita canta un milagro
The little dove sings of a miracle
De la masa del humo de este comal
The miracles that come from the smoke that rises from the traditional cooking vessel known as a comal
Tu que bebiste mis lagrimas
Someone who has tasted the singer's tears, representing a deep emotional connection
De gra, de gra, de granitos de cristal
The imagery of crying tears that appear to be like tiny crystals
Y mujeres que sus manos alimentan
Acknowledging the hard work and importance of women who feed others through their cooking
La que invita aunque nada tenga
A generous person who invites others even when they have nothing
Y pelea por las cosas que si son buenas
Fighting for what is right and good
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Chuck Heppner
Palomo del Comalito
🌾
La chulada de esta tierra
Muele masa de maíz
Un milagro de sus manos
Amarillo brillo vi
En tenate lleva de oro
De oro tierno de maíz
En tenate lleva de oro
De oro tierno de maíz.
Ya acabó... Ya acabó mi sufrimiento
Ya no hay mal... No hay mal que dure cien años
Palomita vuela y dile
Que yo beso aquí sus manos
Palomita vuela y dile
Que yo beso aquí sus manos.
Cu,curu,cu,cuu,curu,curu, cu,cu
Palomita canta un milagro
De la masa del humo de este comal
Tu que bebiste mis lagrimas
De granitos de cristal
Palomita canta un milagro
De la masa del humo de este comal
Tu que bebiste mis lagrimas
De granitos de cristal.
Y milagros de esta tierra
Y mujeres que sus manos alimentan
La que invita aunque nada tenga
Y pelea por las cosas que si son buenas
La que invita aunque nada tenga
Y pelea por las cosas que si son buenas.
Palomita canta un milagro
De la masa del humo de este comal
Tu que bebiste mis lagrimas
De granitos de cristal
Palomita canta un milagro
De la masa del humo de este comal
🌾
alas y Chocolate's songs will address the response from local government and spiritual leaders, as well as immigration issues. Downs describes one track as a political satire that "talks about the different police characters in a very corrupt system ... and about our teachers," she adds, touching on the regeneration of the country's educational system. The songs are written as Mexican Calaveras poems that "speak about characters as if they were all dead."
But, as always, Downs tries to find the balance between serious and lighthearted themes. One entry, "Chocolate," is inspired by her 4-year-old son. "I think it represents the excess in life," Lila says about the song, which incorporates electronic music and hip-hop, some of her son's favorite sounds. "The Mayans developed it, the old Mexican people, our old ancestors … That's just what it represents. To my son, it doesn't mean all these different things. It just means something that is fun and great to have, and he loves it. So, it's both sides."
🌾
Downs's style is partly influenced by Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa. Downs heard Sosa's cover of Violeta Parra's " Gracias A La Vida" during a turning point in her life. In the late 1980s, Downs had taken two years off college to follow the Grateful Dead on the road in an effort to find herself. "I wanted to learn more about being free," she reveals to Yahoo Music. At the end of the trek, she decided to return to school to study anthropology at the University of Minnesota.
"I heard this voice when I was working on my thesis in Mexico," she says about Sosa. "I was studying symbolism and textiles. I discovered this song. That was the first song that was a real influence. The lyrics say, 'Thanks to the life that has given me so much. It has given me truth and a path to find myself.' It talks about being honest with yourself. It's a very beautiful song."
Downs felt liberated when she wrote " Ofrenda," the title track of her independently released 1994 debut album. The song is a true story about a Mexican immigrant worker who died while attempting to cross the U.S. border. "I actually ran across a story about a person whose body got sent to Mexico, and then the family wanted to know what he died of, and then came to me for me to translate the document to tell them how he died," the singer recalls. "It really marked my path as a musician."
In the song, which is written in the first-person voice of the son, the lyrics say, "If I die in my intent to cross the border, please send my body back to my village in the honor of my patron saint because of my faith."
Downs has continued her mission, releasing 11 solo albums. In April, she teamed with Nina Pastori and Soledad Pastorutti for the set Raíz. The trio also appear on " Una Noche en Nápoles" on Santana's Corazón album.
🌾
Dove of the Comalito
The beautiful people of this land
Grind corn
A miracle of their hands
A yellow shine I saw
In a basket she carries gold
Soft corn gold
In a basket she carries gold
Soft corn gold
It’s over… my suffering is over
There’s no more evil… there’s no evil that can last a hundred years*
Little dove fly and tell her
That I’m here to kiss her hands
Little dove fly and tell her
That I’m here to kiss her hands
Cu,curu,cu,cuu,curu,curu, cu,cu
Little dove sing about the miracle
About the dough, about the smoke of this comal**
You who drank my tears
Of crystal grains
You who drank my tears
Of crystal grains
And miracles of this land
And women whose hands give nourishment
She who invites even though she may have nothing
And fights for the things that are really worthy
She who invites even though she may have nothing
And fights for the things that are really worthy
Little dove sing about the miracle
About the dough, about the smoke of this comal
You who drank my tears
Of crystal grains
You who drank my tears
Of crystal grains
🌾
*No hay mal que dure cien años… ni cuerpo que los aguante.
An old saying that can be translated as: “there’s no evil that can last a hundred years”, used to comfort people when things are going badly.
The second part of the saying is an example of the dark sarcastic humor common in Mexican culture: “Nor a body that can stand them (the 100 years).”
**comal – an oversized skillet usually used to cook tortillas “en mass” hence the expression: salidito del comal “just came out of the comal” just as in English one says “fresh out of the oven”.
https://youtu.be/Ot-JnuliZLA
https://youtu.be/Ot-JnuliZLA
fernando robles
Soy indígena náhuatl de la huasteca potosina con orgullo lo digo, el canto de entrada hace que la piel se me ponga chinita por qué el XOCHIPITSAUATL es nuestro himno. Miak Tlaskamati lila
Muchas gracias lila
Aldo Sanchez
podrás traducir lo que dice la principio porfavor
fernando robles
@Aldo Sanchez vengan compañeros, vamos a visitar a María, nos reuniremos con Santa María de Guadalupe.
Sarah Navarro Duncan
Que bonito ❤️
J L
I love the sacred iconography in this song. So luminous her voice ❤ I learnt so much from her 😊
Viany Tre
Con Ese primer son huasteco me arrullaba mi papá 😊
A. BLAKE
El video me hace sentir triste y orgullosa, mi madre quedó viuda, con 12 hijos, el menor de un año, y haciendo tortillas a mano fue como nos sacó adelante a todos. Ahora mi madre no tiene que trabajar, ya no tiene ninguna carencia, está tranquila y feliz con sus hijos y sus nietos que la quieren tanto tanto.
Jhonny Faz
A. BLAKE precisamente la gran Lila hizo esta canción como homenaje a todas esas mujeres que se levantan a las 5 de la mañana a moler el maiz para alimentar a sus familias
A. BLAKE
Jhonny Faz
Asi es. Me parece que ella es una gran pero gran gran persona, sencilla, humilde y muy pero muy talentosa.
Jhonny Faz
+A. BLAKE asi es es admirable, ase un año la conocí y quede enamorado de la estupenda persona que es , es muy sencilla y amable.