CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Lila Downs

Zankel Hall
Friday, March 20th, 2009 at 10:00 PM

“Lila Downs paints Mexico with her voice … smoky, evocative vocals”—The Age

Acclaimed for her performance of “Burn It Blue” on the soundtrack to the motion picture Frida, Lila Downs draws on her Mexican heritage by filling her music with rarely heard sounds of Mextec, Zapotec, Maya, and Nahueti cultures. Her last performance in New York in September 2008 was described as “multi-everything: multicultural, multiethnic, multilingual, multimedia … the music thrived in its multiple layers” (New York Times).

Lila Downs

Program Notes:

When an artist defies categorization, it’s left to those with limited vision to find the closest fit. Such an artist is Lila Downs, a singer who usually falls under the “world music” category, but whose reach is arguably limitless. Born to a Mixtec Indian cabaret-singing mother and an American art professor father, Downs—dubbed “Mexico's mystical spirit incarnate” by the UK newspaper The Independent—spent most of her youth shuttling between Mexico and Minnesota. She’s studied opera and anthropology, followed the Grateful Dead on tour, and married a jazz musician. Thus it should come as no surprise that her music, sung in both Spanish and English and incorporating a panoply of influences—rock and soul, jazz and funk, reggae and, of course, a broad range of native Mexican styles—defies pigeonholing.

“Part of the issue with the label ‘world music’ is that people have an idea of something exotic that only should reach a specialized audience,” says Downs, “but in reality it’s just contemporary music with a deep root and a lot of soul.” On her latest release, Shake Away, Downs peppers the track list with material penned by her and husband Paul Cohen, with cover songs originated by Fleetwood Mac (the classic “Black Magic Woman,” featuring Raul Midón on guitars) and Lucinda Williams, among others. Downs, who appeared in the critically acclaimed 2002 biopic of famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, looks forward to her appearance at Zankel Hall on March 20. “It’s wonderful that such a respected institution as Carnegie sponsors music from around the world,” she says, “since there are very few places in the New York area that do.”


—Jeff Tamarkin is the Associate Editor of JazzTimes magazine.

© 2009 The Carnegie Hall Corporation

Lila Downs
Lila Downs, born in Oaxaca, Mexico, is the daughter of Mixtec cabaret singer Anita Sánchez and Allen Downs, a Scottish/English-American art professor. She grew up in Oaxaca, California, and Minnesota, where she graduated from the University of Minnesota in voice and anthropology. Her musical vision is anthropological in nature, as varied as the ancient and earthy cultures that inspire her. Downs is accompanied on her musical journey by her longtime band, La Misteriosa, multicultural multi-instrumentalists who include Paul Cohen, her collaborator, producer, and husband.

Her powerful persona and voice caught Hollywood's attention. She played a role in the Salma Hayek film about Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, sang the Oscar-nominated song "Burn It Blue," and became the first Mexican to perform on the Academy Awards telecast. She also captured a Latin Grammy for 2004's Una Sangre. At the World Festival of Sacred Music at the Hollywood Bowl, Downs participated alongside luminaries including the Dalai Lama. "I sang in Mixtec, my mother's native language. There were so many Mixtec people in the audience—people who wash dishes, who cultivate the fields—and we got a standing ovation. It was the most intense moment in my life. It was an honor to have that connection."

It's a connection Downs strives to make every moment, succeeding admirably on her newest and Grammy-nominated release, Shake Away. Downs taps into the native Mesoamerican music of the Mixtec, Zapotec, Maya, and Nahuatl cultures. The title track, "Shake Away (Ojos De Culebra)," which means “eyes of the snake,” references symbols in the Olmec culture. "It's a metaphorical event, losing your skin. I went to a place with Shamans who inject the venom in their body to become immune, a practice traced back to Pre-Columbian times," Downs explains. "Mexico also has an important African community; in the history of music in Latin America we owe so much to our African roots, yet people in the US might not know how important that is."

Though many songs address the heated topics of immigration, political justice, and transformation, Downs's vulnerability, compassion, and humor are always present in her music.