Customer Reviews

La Sandunga

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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. Both sport the Cuban bolero style, using African rhythms. Paul Cohen, her husband, who was was one of the musicians at the concert, has a notable sax solo here.

The corrido "Ofrenda" is dedicated to Mixtec immigrants who try to get work in the US and die there, something tackled more on La Linea.

Wow, here's the haunting "La Llorona" once again. It's also on her La Linea album, but also on the Frida soundtrack, where it's done by other artists. This was done in the concert, and it was one of the better numbers done. Like the title track, there's a slow waltz influence, with the Spanish guitar giving it the indigenous influence. The legends differ, but they have in common a screaming woman at night. Lila's voice reaches an operatic height at one point.

"Yunu Yucu Ninu" is an a capella song in Mixtec, and praises the trees and mountain of Yucuninu for providing sustenance for humans and animals, and how

The CECAM marching band is used in "Cancion Mixteca", which thematically covers the Mixtec mythical character of the Sun Archer and the constant migration of the Mixtec people.

Things really get hot in the festive "Pinotepa", which also uses the same marching band in the chilena style, brought to Mexico by African slaves who came with Pizzaro, one of the most villainous conquistadors.

What differentiates this from the original 1995 release is the three bonus tracks, originally part of the Trazos song collection. These songs incorporate some jazz piano elements, with a bossa nova backbeat. "Besame Mucho" is a nice relaxing number for one.

The explanation of the songs are a big help, written by Lila herself in both Spanish and English, and some of them tell when certain Latin genres of music were created. The important thing is that all the songs were composed by people living in Oaxaca, where the Mixtecs live.

A mostly mellower collection of songs, most of it sung in Lila's melodic higher register, and incorporating Mexican, Zapotec, and Mixteca cultural elements, many that I'd never even heard of...until now, and light jazz. Is she great, or what?

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' international artistic vision! Her formal vocal training (opera) gives her a tremendously varied range. Her songs come from the villages whose culture she studied after leaving opera studies and her repertoire includes boleros, ballads and rancheros, as well as original compositions backed by a multi-ethnic, very talented band. A Brazilian guitarist, a Cuban bassist, a Chilean drummer, a Mexican harpist, and a pianist/saxophonist/musical director from New Jersey create a creative, crisp, jazzy, at times bluesy Latin sound.

The title song, "La Sandunga," is a traditional Zapotec folk song. It is usually played at local festivities and at weddings. "La Zandunga" is a type of cancion performed as a Mexican waltz. It is a result of the music of the conquistadores,' who arrived from the Spanish provinces of Navarra and Leon, combined with that of indigenous cultures.

Other highlights include: "Pobre Changuita," which epitomizes Mexican country music and is one of my favorite cuts; "Ofrenda" is a corrido inspired by Mixtec immigrants who come to the US to find work and die here; "Yunu Yucu Ninu" is an extraordinary Mixtec poem written by Juan de Dios Ortiz, a Mixtec poet from San Miguel el Grande. It is truly beautiful. There is a Spanish and English translation in the linear notes; "Pinotepa," another favorite, is known as a chilena, a musical style brought from Chile by African slaves; The last three songs, bonus tracks, "Perfume de Gardenias," "La Maleguena," "Besame Mucho," are "part of a musical collaboration with choreographer Cecilia Lugo and the contemporary dance company Contempodanza. They were originally part of a collection called 'Trazos,' released in limited edition in 1999." I already mentioned "La Llorona" above.

Lila Downs is a Mexican-American vocalist, with a Scottish-American father, and a Mixteca mother. She grew up in both the Mexican state of Oaxaca and in Minnesota, USA, bi-lingual and bi-cultural. Lila received formal voice training in Mexico and in the States, and performs her own compositions, as well as tapping into the rich music from Mexico's indigenous peoples. Ms. Downs stated during an interview: "I have this special relationship with my voice. Though I've never considered myself to be a spiritual person....it's a spiritual feeling I have, which began when I studied anthropology. I began to have something approaching awe for this thing that came out of my body, which had to do with something bigger than me. Awe for this gift."

La Sandunga" is a wonderful CD! Lila Downs is a unique artist - simply superb! Highly recommended.
JANA

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 technical reviewing to those better qualified, but I know a thing or two about passion --- and this music delivers.

About ten years ago I was working in Oaxaca state, Southern Mexico. I had been working around the market town of Tlaxiaco and been introduced to Lila's mother, Ana. However, I had never met Lila. One day I went into the cathedral in Tlaxiaco, prayed for a bit and was sitting in a pew in contemplation. Suddenly, an ethereal woman's voice in song filled the nave and washed over me, raising goose flesh on my arms. It was an other-worldly voice that incorporated the European music with an indigenous voice that spoke of a time long before the arrival of he Capitanes.

I turned to look and there was a beautiful woman standing in the choir high above the back of the church. She must have noticed the effect her singing had on me for she smiled and raised a finger in acknowledgement of my presence down below.

I have worked all over the world and been exposed to many cultures but that particular experience has always served as an emblem of the exotic worlds that lie so close to us but are as distant as the clank of armor and songs of long gone peoples.

I cannot emphasize enough how stunningly gorgeous and heartfelt this album is. "La Sandunga" presents the dual cultural identity of Lila Downs to the masses. Following the release of the soundtrack from the movie, "Frida," Downs' talent was brought to the forefront, once people became aware of her featured musical contributions to the album. "La Sandunga" is a prequel, if you will, to this surge in popularity. This album was originally released in 1997. We hear Lila Downs' rich cultural influences of her maternal Mixtec Indian lineage in "La Llorona" and "Sandunga" (more traditional flavored songs), and a more jazzy take on the classic "Besame Mucho" (deriving the more Americanized influences, channeling her father's side--he is of Scottish ancestry, but born in the United States).

Lila Downs' album is a great opportunity for those of us, previously not exposed to Mixtec music, to listen to the best of the best. Whether we hear jazz rhythms, traditional percussive instruments derived from Mexico's indigenous roots, or more traditional Spanish-derived ballads, this is a true example of how all music is interconnected through rhythm, interpretation and emotional sentiment. You will love this...I guarantee it.

Songs in LA SANDUNGA range from the lovely 'La Sandunga' profiling her voice alone to the more traditional 'Pobre Changuita', then the ballad style in 'Naila'.
 In each song Downs demonstrates an impressive range and ability to adeptly sing a range of Mexican styles with equal passion and precision.

Lila Downs put together a collection of songs that not only speak to the magic of Southern Mexico; they transport us to the deep old roots of indigenous beliefs and clashing-culture interactions. A general glance at the tracks is enough to grasp the great lyrical tradition of Mexico.

Mexico sings to the women, and Lila Downs, a woman herself, puts her heart into the singing with her powerful, hunting voice. Tracks such as "La Llorona", traditional within the Mexican psyche, speak of the life and deeds of two beautiful women who are being flattered by the strophes dedicated to them through singing. They are key figures in Mexican tradition and their presence has endured the pass of years (since Colonial times) to the point of being perpetuated in such wonderful songs as interpreted by Downs.
Most of the tracks are favored nationally in Mexico. Lila Downs has taken them and made some outstanding arrangements, rendering them unique and magical. "La Llorona". "Sabor a Mi", "El Venadito", "La Malagueña" and "Perfume de Gardenias" make you relive the past and think of the present as a new time in which tradition and love mesh indistinctly.
As a young Mexican myself, I find Lila Down's albums a means of discovery to my own culture, as opposed to those over-played singers of the present whose new rhythms lack the charateristical sounds of Mexico.

Iván A. Ch.

Amongst all four Lila Downs releases so far, there is little doubt in my mind that this one remains an all time favorite.

Needless to say, I have become a huge fan, and all CDs by Lila and her fabulous band fully deserve five stars, period. But this one is the most indengenious one, the one of her roots, where her true character and amibition shine through in its most pure form.

I especially adore songs like La Sandunga with its magic touch, or Naila, maybe because I am a bit a sentimental guy. Anyway - buy all of her CD's, but give this one a special listen.

Hopefully, she will never burn out and continue with her wonderful voice and the intelligence and subtelty of her almost dylanesque or even taupinian lyrics.

Sublime.

"This Fall, Narada Records will re-issue "La Sandunga", Lila's
first CD recording from 1997. This new re-mastered edition will
include 3 never before released bonus tracks, plus an English
translation of the liner notes written by Lila."

And a personal note (not a review):

I have all of Lila's CDs and I have seen her in concert,
and I even got to talk to her briefly. I love all her albums.
Listen to her sound bites and check her out in the
movie "Frida".

All the CDs of Lila Downs are beutifuls. Especially if you use a high-end chaine. And amazon.com has a good offer. I have 8 CDs with Lila Downs and I have just one regret: I canot find SACD with Lila Downs.
Alexandru Ciocalteu Bucharest Romania