ARTISTE CORNER


ARTISTE CORNER!

*Drum Rolls***

Salías del templo un día, llorona
Cuando al pasar yo te vi
Salías del templo un día, llorona
Cuando al pasar yo te vi

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Our Artist for Artiste Corner is non other but SANCHEZ ANA LILA DOWNS!

A Mexican Singer, Song Writer and Actress born on September 19, 1968! Notable for performing her own compositions and the works of others in multiple genres, as well as tapping into Mexican traditional and popular music.

Going by the stage name Lila Downs, the Artiste who works with Sony Music,  Columbia label had recorded many songs in indigenous Mexican languages such as Mixtec, Zapotec, Mayan, Nahuatl and Purépecha, incorporating indigenous Mexican influences.

She was born and raised in Oaxaca. Her passion for music made her study at the Institute of Arts by Oaxaca. She attended University of Minnesota briefly, before withdrawing to focus on her musical career, performing in the traditional music scene of Oaxaca City.

Her first album, Ofrenda, was released in 1994. But Downs became prominent in 1999, with her debut studio album, La Sandunga, which was a critical and commercial success. She achieved international success in 2001 with the album Border which emerged in the music scene of Mexico and Latin America in the early 2000s.

As a budding artiste then Lila Downs began performing in school, demonstrating her vocal ability with traditional music, Latin and American influences, and with her own original twist on dancing.

She is a native Spanish speaker, fluent also in Mixtec and English.  Her activism had gone a long way in preserving indigenous Mixtec language and many other Mexican language, so she is a promoter of languages, she does this by recording her music in indigenous languages.  For Music, Chavela Vargas, Mercedes Sosa, Lucha Villa, and Amparo Ochoa,  are greatest influences on Lila Downs career!

Lila Downs is recognized for her flamboyant, diverse and outré contributions to the music industry through her traditional and authentic fashion, the majority of which are based around Mexico's indigenous peoples' styles, cultures and heritages, which show through her performances and music videos.

In acting Downs has had small parts in such films as Frida, Fados and Hasta el último trago corazón; the latter is a documentary on Mexican music involving various exponents of the genre. She worked on the composition and arrangements for the musical Como agua para chocolate, based on the book by Laura Esquivel, which premiered at the Public Theater of New York and Broadway in late 2011 and early 2012. She also participated in the filming of the U.S. film Mariachi Gringo directed by Tom Gustafson, where she worked alongside Mexican actresses Adriana Barraza, Martha Higareda and Canadian actor Shawn Ashmore. The film was released in 2012.

Downs had bagged for herself three Latin Grammy Awards and one Grammy Award.

Her voice is the most intriguing, the way she blends this natural gift of hers with her indigenous languages will just make you love every single music she releases in her indigenous languages! I got to know Downs by her track La Llorona, and since then her version had replaced the Mama Coco's cover from Angelica Vale and Marco Antonio. The Political Activist as well as the Pro Latin American activist is one song writer you'll never get tired of listening to.

Her music are on YouTube, you'll love the experience!

What do you know about Lila Downs?


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