Lila Downs
La Sandunga (Aries Music Entertainment/BMG US Latin 640014-4083-2)

Lila Downs is a Mexican diva who operates in the same slinky realm (marketing-wise, at least) as Cesaria Evora and Omara Portuondo, bringing a sexy and kinda jazzy approach to traditional Mexican folk music. La Sandunga is the only CD I've heard by Lila, but I'd say it's only a matter of time before she hits big (her appearance in Frida couldn't have hurt).

Certainly this disc won’t cross over to the fair-weather Latin music listeners who've cooled their jets now that the Buena Vista phenomenon has started to wane. It's just as traditional and nearly as seductive as the Buena Vista discs, but a bit more strident in places – perhaps a bit "too authentic" for the casual Latin music fan.

Mostly, these are slow and haunting ballads, almost fado-like, with some bolero, some ranchero, and traditional Mixtec songs filling out the program. Lila's voice is a thing of real majesty, especially on the intensely gripping "La Llorona" (a jazzy one that's about as good as "Chan Chan") and the deeply depressing "La Sandunga."

Of course I don’t understand a bit of what she's singing, but it's not hard to tap into the emotion of her voice. In various places she sounds like Albita, Kate Bush, Diamanda Galás, and Eartha Kitt, so if consistency is important to you, you may want to pass.

The instrumentation is excellent, with spacious acoustics bringing out the guitar, piano, clarinet, percussion, and occasional saxophones. The disc starts out really strong but deflates a bit later on, around track 7 ("Pobre Changuita"), when the band gets uptempo and Lila breaks out this over-the-top cartoony voice that, perhaps, some may find charming, but I just find irritating. Lots of comical "boo-hoo-hoo"-ing and that sort of thing. If it were only for one track, that might be fine, but she does two in a row like this.

And then there are two tracks where she sings backed by a Mexican children's band with an apparent overabundance of tubas and cymbals. Again, this is all well and good for one track, but as soon as the second one starts, you feel like you’ve drunk some bad tequila and have found yourself in the middle of a miserable parade, wanting only to lie down and sleep.

I suppose the slight case of musical schizophrenia should be refreshing. Maybe I've been brainwashed like everyone else and I just like CDs to be one mood throughout. This is an exceptional CD, for sure, but admittedly I reach for, say, Cesaria or Omara ten times more often when I’m in a slinky Latin mood. Chalk it up to my murderous hatred of parades.

Loud Bassoon rating scale

Review by Phreeek of the Weeeeek