Lila Downs

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About Lila Downs

Lila Downs has created an individual musical strain with Indigenous Mexican roots and North American sonorities. As her career was beginning, she and jazz musician Paul Cohen struck a professional and personal relationship whose first fruit was the self-released Ofrenda (1994). That was followed two years later by Azuláo: En Vivo con Lila Downs, one of whose songs won Best Original Latin Jazz composition in a Philadelphia poll. Along with jazz, Downs was slowly developing a more intense, folkloric style that began to rear its head on 1997's La Sandunga, influenced by artists such as Chavela Vargas and Mercedes Sosa. She won a Grammy Award for 2004's Una Sangre, and a Latin Grammy for 2015's Balas y Chocolate. 2017's Salon, Lagrimas y Deseo charted, as did 2019's Al Chile. Following a four-year gap and the 2022 death of musical and life partner Cohen, Downs released La Sánchez in 2023.

HOMETOWN
Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, Mexico
BORN
1968
GENRE
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