Search - Lilia Downs :: Sandunga

Brilliant singer, jarring variety of music

J. TIMMERMAN | Lawson, NSW Australia | 06/03/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Lila Downs was born in 1968 to a North American father and a Mixtec Indian mother who earned a living singing in the bars of Mexico City. Lila started singing mariachi songs at age eight, and even thought of becoming an opera singer. After dropping out of college, she returned to university to study voice and anthropology. In the 90's she began writing her own songs, having been inspired by those attempting the hazardous journey across the US/Mexican border. Now she is a high profile singer who you may have seen singing her songs in the recent movie "Frida", a biography of the famous artist.Her third album, "La Sandunga", reflects her various influences, containing songs by Mexican and Spanish composers as well as traditional and original ones. Her vocal range is very wide and she is able to control various inflections with great skill. Most of the songs here have a jazzy cabaret or nightclub feel, thoughtful, emotional and powerful, reminiscent of the Portuguese fado. Others have a light bouncy mariachi style. She is professionally accompanied on guitar, sax, piano, bass and percussion, and the recorded sound is excellent.A pity the mood changes so abruptly from track to track as the style of song changes - I prefer the soul-drenched cabaret stuff to the full-on mariachi and I found it difficult to be bounced from one mood to a completely different one. However, Lila puts her heart and soul into every one of them. A very lyrical and unusual performer."