Lila Downs in Cologne

Lila Downs is a Mexican singer-songwriter born in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, in 1968. Her music draws on the folk traditions of Oaxaca, ranchera, bolero, jazz and rock, and she sings in Spanish, English and Indigenous languages including Mixtec. Her best-known recordings include “La Llorona,” “La Sandunga” and the albums La Línea, Una Sangre and Pecados y Milagros. At the 2003 Academy Awards, she performed “Burn It Blue” from Frida with Caetano Veloso. Her concert work has also taken her to Carnegie Hall in New York and the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City.