La Sandunga

The second of two Lila Downs CDs I bought just before I went into the auditorium to see her live is a quieter affair, but with as much subgenres from the Mexican and Mixtec music culture that really opened my eyes. Here are the highlights.

The title track is a mournful ode to one's dead mother, with piano and acoustic guitar. According the notes, "La Sandunga" is played in ritual ceremonies, but as a genre, it became a sort of Mexican waltz, a merger of indigenous and European influences.

The quick-paced mariachi-like "Pobre Changuita," with quickly sung vocals, is the forerunner of Mexican country music. Lila does her comical helium-like voice in this one.

The slow and swaying "Naila" is similar to Cuban habanera music. The bongos and guitar add to the Latin rhythm.

In the same tempo, with a touch of slow jazz and bossa nova, are "Tengo Miedo De Quererte" and "Un Poco Mas," both triumphant showcases for her upper register...Read more

I first heard Lila Downs' distinctive sultry, sassy voice in the film "Frida." The movie's entire soundtrack is extraordinary, and I still listen to the CD frequently. Fortunately Ms. Downs has come out with four albums since then. I bought them all because I love the passion and soul she puts into her music. "La Sandunga," her debut album released in 1997, is one of my favorites, with its highly original arrangements. She weaves the indigenous music of her native lands - Mexico and the United States - into a multicultural fabric. Her variegated sound is a real fusion of Mexican folk songs, rich American blues and jazz, along with some pop, mixed in with Afro-Cuban and Brazilian rhythms. Lyrics are in Spanish, English and Mexico's Mayan, Zapotec, Nahuatl, and Mixtec Indian dialects. I have never heard the classics "La Llorona" and "La Malaguena" sung quite like this before. Absolutely fantastic!!

"La Sandunga" is an unusually eclectic mix, based on Ms. Downs'...Read more

Oaxaca. Tehuantepec. Teotichtlan del Valle. Huatulco. Ocotlan. Do the names sound exotic... or even strange? If so, you are probably like the vast majority of us "Americanos" who know little of Mexico beyond Mexico City and the border towns. The places I mentioned are all in Oaxaca, the home state of Lila Downs. "La Sandunga" will bring these names to life and bring the place as close as it can get without one acually going there. This is an amazing collection of songs, and it showcases not only Downs' dramatic voice and her wonderful band, but the passion and smoldering intensity of Oaxacan music. There is nothing "casual" about this CD... it demands your attention and will reward it with soulful pleasures that probably should be illegal!

Musically, "La Sandunga" is enormously pleasing to me - full of dynamism, sometimes soft and languid, sometimes blazing with fury and the searing heat of love - for person, place and culture. I am not a music critic, so I'll leave the...Read more