Sandunga

Lila Downs | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 29, 1999)
• Original Release Date: June 29, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Aries Music Ent.
• ASIN: B00000JHG6
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #574,985 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Llorona

2. Tengo Miedo de Quererte

3. La Sandunga

4. Ofrenda

5. Naila

6. Sabor a Mi

7. Pobre Changuita

8. El Venadito

9. Un Poco Mas

10. Cancion Mixteca

11. La Pínotepa

12. Yunu Yucu Ninu

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Your Stereotype of Mexican Music!, June 30, 2000

By 

Therese K. Reinhart (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sandunga (Audio CD)

Supreme clarity of voice, a magnificent variety of muscial treatments that still maintains the album's coherence, back-up players who deserve top-billing in their own right. There you have La Sandunga.

Tracks are sung in Spanish with one a capella piece rendered in Mixteco, a native language of southern Mexico. Lila Downs, a product of an American father and a Mixteca mother, displays a prodigious vocal range and a gifted ability of choosing pieces that vary from romantic to witty, from tragic to flippant.

Best of all: you don't need to know a word of Spanish (or Mixteco!) to appreciate this album to the fullest.

La Sandunga draws inspriation from the musical legancy of Mexico: the polka and waltz from Europe, percussion and sounds borrowed from the Cuba habanera, ranchera music of Mexico of the 30s, the bolero fused from Colombian and African music.

Three cheers for a virtuoso singer who gives equal time to her backup musicians. Pay special attention to Hopalong Chagoyan (bass), Memo Porras (piano), Eduardo Corzo (clarinet) and Dennis Hart (sax).

Two of the tracks are accompanied by a 30-piece Mixtecan youth band. Their sheer exuberance puts me in mind of a happy klezmer group!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting Music, July 9, 2000

By 

Penumbra (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sandunga (Audio CD)

Lila Downs is an incredibly talented young singer. About half of the CD consists of fairly smoky jazz arrangements of Mexican standards.

Her voice is lovely, clear and filled with emotion. Ms Downs studied opera in college and, although she does not sound operatic on this album, it is obvious we are listening to a trained voice.

The title song, "La Sandunga," is a haunting lament that will stay with you long after you first hear it. This CD is a gem. Don't pass it up!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watch out for Lila !, November 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sandunga (Audio CD)

You don't have to understand Spanish to feel the power behindLila Down's musical communication of love, mystery, folklore, humor, and latin/indigenous color. She has an incredible range of voice -- in tone, timbre, and feel. I'm glad that someday I'll be the one who can say -- I always KNEW she was going to make a name for herself !

The musical accompaniment is delicious -- watch for her second album -- even BETTER !

Saw her in concert on a recent visit to Oaxaca (She was born in the Mixtec region of Oaxaca of a Mixteca mom and American dad) -- and was moved to tears several times.

This woman is going places.