Lila Downs
Lila Downs is a Mexican singer, actress, and song-writer. She performs music created and composed by herself and works is several genres of music. She bridges the gap between Mexican traditional and popular music and she has recorded music in many Indigenous Languages.
Born in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca in 1968 she is of Mixtec origin. She grew up speaking Spanish, English, Zapotec, Mixtec, and Nahuatl. Through her career she has incorporated several languages into her music. She has said that "We [as Latinxs] got to be there representing, explaining and traslating". She believes that "It´s the only wat we are going to have people come together".
Lila Downs has aimed to dismantle xenophobia by building solidarity with migrants everywhere. She has used music as a tool to promote her beliefs across Mexico and Latin America.
She studied at the Institute of Arts by Oaxaca and sell as at the University of Minnesota before taking music as her full-time job. Her first album released was called Ofrenda and was released in 1994. She has been influenced by many artists such as Chavela Vargas, Lucha Villa, and Mercedes Sosa. Besides music, she has worked in several humanitarian projects and political activism regarding Latin American indigenous communities.