Lila Downs: La Cantina
Lila Downs has been a prolific artist. This album is her fourth since her first major release, La Sanduga, in 1999 (in the mid 1990s, while bouncing between clubs in Philadelphia and Oaxaca, Mexico, Downs made a few jazzier recordings with limited release). Her other albums are Tree of Life (2000), Border/La Linea (2001), and Una Sangre/One Blood (2004). Last year, Una Sangre/One Blood won a Latin Grammy for best folk album. In 2002, Downs contributed a number of songs to the film Frida, and had a striking role in the film, periodically appearing to sing. Her physical similarity to Frida Kahlo, and the passion of her voice—at times lusty, at others festive, and at others heartfully melancholic—aurally embodied the spirit of Frida.
That emotional depth continues in La Cantina. Downs, who was born in Oaxaca, kicks off the album with a lyrical recipe for making mole, the Aztec food of the gods that combines dried chiles, nuts, and a variety of other ingredients with chocolate. (She also includes a version in English at the end for those who don't understand Spanish—but you’ll still need to get a good Mexican cookbook to prepare it.) The spicy richness of mole describes the album well, as Downs blends her strong, yet lush, voice with ranchera orchestration.
Downs follows up “La Cumbia Del Mole” with her rollicking “Corrido de Tacha”, backed by the great norteño accordionist Flaco Jimenez (who contributes to four of the songs on the album). Sung as a traditional corrido (folksong), full of upbeat heartbreak, the backing music is occasionally punctuated with steel drums and electronic beats, giving a slight hip-hop feel without compromising the integrity of the song. Several other songs on the album combine traditional ballads with more contemporary rhythms, which serves to enhance both sounds.
Throughout the album, I was reminded by the internationality of the music of northern Mexico—which dominates this album—with its lush strings, vocal ardor, and polka cadence. Downs, who has a degree in anthropology from the University of Minnesota, has always explored connection between the cultures of Mexico and the U.S. Her music here demonstrates the universality of traditional country music.
“Agua de Rosas”, the third song on La Cantina, is perhaps the prettiest. Downs’s lilting voice transports the listener to a cantina where the singer drowns her desire for “la mujere que más deseo” [the woman I most desire]. Like the other songs, “Agua de Rosas” is musically complex, with marimbas, clarinet, and distorted electric guitar fading in and out of this simple ballad.
And so the album goes, one well-conceived recipe after another, resulting in a feast of traditional Mexican folk music layered with just the right embellishments to bring out the riqueza.
—Eric Bond