LILA DOWNS BY FRIDA COTA

Perhaps, Perhaps, Quizas You May Like Her WORLDLY MUSIC

by Frida Cota

The sound of marimbas is like the sound of dancing bones featured in a Tim Burton film. Without the confinements of muscles and skin, they can move into astounding angles, and they have a sort of grace that makes you want to dance right along with them. Like dancing skeletons, marimbas have a sweet yet brisk sound. They have an awkward grace to them . The notes can only be maintained for a short while, and the only way to prolong the same note is by rolling the mallets on the wooden surface. High school years spent playing the marimba introduced me to the beautiful regional music of southern Mexico, especially from the state of Oaxaca. Songs such as La Llorona, Tehuantepec, and La Sandunga became my favorites to play and listen to. Typing in the names of those songs into the YouTube search tab revealed several interpretations of those songs. An artist that kept coming up in searches of numerous folk songs was Lila Downs. A click on one of her videos was inevitable because she just kepy popping up, and I’m glad I did give in because she turned out to be an artist with interesting and unique takes on tradional music.

There is a heavy use of jazz in some of Downs’ songs as well as electrical instrumentation. Her voice is slightly more pop-oriented than the fuller voices of ranchera singers like Chavela Vargas. Lila Downs offers interpretations of songs that have been played many times before; each time presented slightly differently depending on the circumstances of the performer. She is doing what every other person who plays covers does, but the reason that she’s so popular and that I ended up running into her is that her fusion of several musical styles resonates with many people who can relate to her. These are people who live in this modern world and like today’s music but that can also connect to older music, and people who are strongly defined by more than one culture .

Downs keeps the lyrics and melodies fairly similar to more traditional covers of Oaxacan folk music, but she integrates parts of the culture that her American father gave her. Since she grew up in America, she’s an English speaker and she enjoyed American

music such as jazz.

These elements are a part of who she is, and she adds them to the other part of herself, which comes from her Mixtecan mother (the Mixteca are an indigenous group in Oaxaca and other southern Mexican states). The beautiful thing about Lila Downs’ interpretations is that they don’t cater solely to Mexicans. Mexicans enjoy her renditions of traditional songs, but people in general who enjoy jazzier music can also find enjoyment in both her original works and covers such as Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps which switches between English and Spanish lyrics.

Lila Downs’ commitment to covering many traditional songs from Oaxaca by incorporating a variety of musical styles makes her music worth checking out. If you like what you hear there’s also the Bimexicano: Nuestros Clasicos Hechos Rock album which features popular Mexican artists such as the Jaguares and their awesome covers of traditional Mexican classic songs. 17