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Lila Downs: Minnesota
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Lila Downs grew up in the Sierra Madre Mountains of southern Mexico, in the state of Oaxaca, and ... in Minnesota. She is the daughter of a Scottish-American cinematographer/painter, who came to Mexico originally to make a documentary about the blue-winged teal’s annual migration from Canada to the Yucatan Peninsula. There he met Lila’s mother, a Mixtec-Indian woman, who sang in Mexico City.
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Lila Downs comes from a diverse past. With a Mixtecan mother and Scottish father, she grew up partly in the mountains of Oaxaca, a sovereign state of Mexico, and Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. It is from this assorted upbringing that she draws her inspiration. The recent Oscar nomination for her contribution to the acclaimed movie Frida, shot Downs to stardom and she quickly gained worldwide recognition for her distinct live performances and genre-crossing music. Eric Parnis talked with Downs about her musical career and the difficulties in trying to live within two very dissimilar traditions.
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Born in southern Mexico to a Mixtec Indian mother and an American father, Lila Downs studied music and anthropology in Minnesota and Oaxaca and came to reconcile her heritage through music. This release is her extraordinary debut album, first released in 1997. Featuring interpretations of Oaxacan traditional songs as well as her own compositions, this first expression of her very original vision evokes a rich past whileat the same time ushering a vibrant new contemporary voice onto the world stage.
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L[I]la Downs has spent her life and her career crossing boundaries and borders. She even called one of her records La Linea. Growing up with a Mexican mother and an American father in Minnesota and Mexico City, Downs spent a long time trying to decide which culture she felt most comfortable within. Eventually she chose neither and both.
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Lila Downs grew up in the mountainous region located in the state of Oaxaca in Mexico, and in Minnesota. With a childhood punctuated by the American and Mexican cultures she has earned her character and was confronted with an omnipresent racism in this region of America. This theme of the culture shock often crops up in her songs.
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Lila Downs comes from a diverse past. With a Mixtecan mother and Scottish father, she grew up partly in the mountains of Oaxaca, a sovereign state of Mexico, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the United States. It is from this assorted upbringing that she draws her inspiration. [more]
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