Lila Downs Biography
Those who see borders as stark reminders of insurmountable cultural differences will have to contend with the voice of Lila Downs. The daughter of a Scottish-American father and a musical Mixtec Indian-Mexican mother, she spent her youth moving between the musical traditions of both Mexico and the United States. Embracing a wide array of regional and international styles, she successfully used her back-and-forth, border-hopping youth to create a seamless musical celebration of Latin, Anglo, and Native American traditions and produce a multilingual political statement.
Downs’s mix of musical styles is a reflection of her own background. Her father, a Scottish-American filmmaker and art professor at the University of Minnesota, was in Mexico working on a documentary when he met and fell in love with a Mixtec-speaking Indian woman who sang part-time in bars and cabarets. Anna Lila Downs Sánchez was born September 19, 1968, in Tlaxiaco, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. She began her childhood pursuing music in the Sierra Madre mountains in Oaxaca and later in Minnesota and California.
With the encouragement of her mother and father, Downs began singing as early as age five, and by age eight she was singing with mariachi bands. When her parents separated, Downs headed north to live with family in Los Angeles, where she began taking formal voice lessons at age 14. It was there that she finished high school and perfected her English. Moving back to Oaxaca, she continued taking lessons, with an eye toward singing opera. It was there that she began to open her eyes to the discrimination practiced against Native Mexicans and to confront her own Indian ancestry.
Downs’s mix of musical styles is a reflection of her own background. Her father, a Scottish-American filmmaker and art professor at the University of Minnesota, was in Mexico working on a documentary when he met and fell in love with a Mixtec-speaking Indian woman who sang part-time in bars and cabarets. Anna Lila Downs Sánchez was born September 19, 1968, in Tlaxiaco, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. She began her childhood pursuing music in the Sierra Madre mountains in Oaxaca and later in Minnesota and California.
With the encouragement of her mother and father, Downs began singing as early as age five, and by age eight she was singing with mariachi bands. When her parents separated, Downs headed north to live with family in Los Angeles, where she began taking formal voice lessons at age 14. It was there that she finished high school and perfected her English. Moving back to Oaxaca, she continued taking lessons, with an eye toward singing opera. It was there that she began to open her eyes to the discrimination practiced against Native Mexicans and to confront her own Indian ancestry.
Profile
Born Anna Lila Downs Sánchez on September 19, 1968, in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, Mexico; daughter of Allen Downs (an American art professor, painter, and filmmaker) and Anita Sánchez (a part-time singer); lives with partner Paul Cohen in New York City.
Education: Graduated from University of Minnesota, degrees in anthropology and voice, c. 1992.
Education: Graduated from University of Minnesota, degrees in anthropology and voice, c. 1992.
Contact Information
Address: Booking--Maria Matias, Monterey Peninsula Artists, 509 Hartnell St., Monterey, CA 93940
Website: http://www.liladowns.com
Website: http://www.liladowns.com
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