El nuevo álbum de Lila Downs “Balas y Chocolate” se estrena mañana 14 de abril en Estados Unidos // Lila Downs’ Powerfully Outspoken New Album “Balas y Chocolate” Arrives With Full U.S. Release Tomorrow April 14th
Poderoso y Franco, El Nuevo Álbum de Lila Downs “Balas y Chocolate” Se Estrena Mañana 14 de abril en Estados Unidos en Formato Físico con Críticas Positivas de la Prensa Especializada “4 1Ž2 ESTRELLAS – Balas y Chocolate, se enfoca en las condiciones actuales en México, y el tumulto que está experimentando: la violencia de las campañas anti-drogas, la desaparición de niños, codicia multinacional, y un capitalismo desenfrenado que se empeña a destruir un ambiente variado y una cultura indígena… Balas y Chocolate expresa el sentimiento que mientras uno respire, el cambio es posible. Este álbum apuesta todo. Aunque refleja un presente trastornado, también es una declaración de una fe profunda en el futuro de la humanidad y un acto de resistencia en contra de los poderes de la obscuridad.” – ALL MUSIC MIAMI (13 de abril, 2015) – El reciente lanzamiento digital de “Balas y Chocolate” ha recibido una pléyade de críticas positivas, al igual que el video motivador del primer sencillo “La patria Madrina” junto a Juanes– el cual ha sido halagado como: “una canción de esperanza para méxico y latinoamérica.” Ahora Downs presenta estas canciones poderosas en su gira de Estados Unidos (fechas más adelante). “Una potente declaración vibrante de su vida y su país, donde la tragedia y la determinación esperanzadora combinan naturalmente… Los sueños de Simón Bolívar, José Martí y Vicente Guerrero toman forma en Lila Downs, manifestándose copiosamente en este álbum, con una gama de géneros y emociones, complementándose y contrastando en plena armonía — abrazando sus ideales sobre su tierra natal.- KPCC/NPR “Hablar español con fluidez no es necesario para entender la voz multiforme de Lila Downs: Transciende el lenguaje, llevando pura emoción. En “Balas y Chocolate”, Downs, la ganadora del Grammy, expresa indignación y dolor por los acontecimientos en México” – Associated Press “En estos tiempos, mientras la violencia siga reinando, la respuesta cultural de los artistas debería de ser igual de atenta, ‘La Patria Madrina’ de Lila Downs es un llamado a la acción” – Remezcla Escucha a Lila Downs interpretar las canciones del nuevo disco “Balas y Chocolate” EN VIVO durante su gira en Estados Unidos y Canadá: 14/04 – San Luis Obispo, CA – Cal Poly Christopher Cohan Center 17/04 – San Diego, CA – Copley Symphony Hall 18/04 – Santa Rosa, CA – Weill Music Hall 21/04 – Modesto, CA – Gallo Center 22/04 – San Francisco, CA – Nourse Theatre 24/24 – Calgary, Canada – Arts Commons, Jack Singer Hall 26/04 – Vancouver, Canada – Chan Centre 28/04 – Seattle, WA – Neptune Theatre 01/05 – Washington DC – Lisner Auditorium 02/05 – Durham, NC – Carolina Theatre 06/05 – Chicago, IL – Auditorium Theatre, Roosevelt University 19/09 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Pantages Theater Expanded Sample Reviews Of LILA DOWNS’ “Balas y Chocolate” “Fluency in Spanish isn’t necessary to understand Lila Downs’ shape-shifting voice: It transcends language, carrying pure emotion. On her latest album, “Balas y Chocolate” (Bullets and Chocolate), the Grammy-winning Downs expresses outrage and pain over events in Mexico, her birthplace. And she capably blends traditional Latin rhythms with modern elements in an array of popular standards and her own compositions, her themes — treason, loss, death and love — woven throughout the 13 songs. Downs’ romantic bolero “Cuando Me Tocas” (When You Touch Me) is rendered achingly beautiful and accented by wavering breaths. “Mano Negra” (Black Hand) demonstrates her range of style in a terrific mash-up of pre-Colombian instruments and mariachi horns with rhythm and harmonics borrowed from Jewish klezmer. The gorgeous production allows Downs’ voice to soar solo to the edges of falsetto and contralto or dive into a blend of audio samples. Downs moves from operatic stylings to rap and everything in between, with both artistic exploration and pop sensibility, such as on the first-release single “La Patria Madrina” (Motherland) in which she pairs up with Colombian rocker Juanes. She sings: “You are the country of all of my dreams/He who doesn’t respect, I’ll split his heart in two.” More politically charged than her previous collections, the album’s lyrics are as much a lament as a call to action.” – Michelle Morgante, Associated Press “I’ve seen hell; I’ve seen the news’ sings Lila Downs at the start of the song ‘La Patria Madrina…. The song is a collaboration with Juanes, who Downs sees as something of a Latin American brother-in-arms…A video for the track flashes shots of deforestation, oil excavation, headlines of violence in Mexico, and images of war and consumerism… Downs says she was directly influenced by much-publicized incidents of violence in Mexico, like the abduction of 43 young men in 2014 in the state of Guerrero….Downs’ new album, ‘Balas y Chocolate’ could be her best. On the new record, the Grammy-winner known for her unique brand of rough Mexican-rooted folk party songs — and emotional ballads with the pull of incantations — goes to a higher level musically.” – Judy Cantor-Navas, Billboard “Bullets and chocolate? A rather darker twist on the old spoonful of sugar helping the medicine go down, perhaps. But it sums up the conditions of Mexico 2015, in the view of Lila Downs. Downs has long mixed seemingly contrasting images, not to mention musical styles, through 11 albums in a singularly dynamic career. Born in a small town in Oaxaca (where her mother was from), but spending much of her childhood in Minnesota (her father’s home), she celebrates her Mexican origins, but with an expansive worldview and voracious intellect and artistry. She’s long placed village folk songs alongside soaring rock and yearning ballads, put metal next to mariachi, even explored the aesthetic overlaps of Mexican street music with Eastern European Jewish klezmer. This album is what it all led to, a boldly vibrant statement of both her life and her country’s, in which dire tragedy and hopeful determination combine seamlessly and naturally, as do rancheras and metal-edged hip-hop. Balas y chocolate. And, in fact, all of that is in the title track, dedicated “to the children who migrate crossing borders, on the Latin American cacao route,” a very perilous journey. But as the song switches styles, it becomes more poetic, more fever-dream metaphor for personal survival through the many bullets of any life’s road, a horrifying yet familiar litany she recites in the course of the song. It’s as powerful as it is compelling. “I’m escaping to chocolate,” she sings at one point. “You are my chocolate.” The album’s tone throughout is informed by the political (the abduction and apparent murder of 43 students in the state of Guerrero last year is a major presence here) and the personal (motherhood and darkness with her husband and collaborator Paul Cohen dealing with serious health issues). Día de Los Muertos, the Mexican festivities both honoring and mocking death, is a thread running through the album. “La Patria Madrina,” the first single, is a defiant lament for a Mexico under siege of drug lords and industrialists and a hopeful call for action via cultural and political will, more forceful for the presence of her duet partner, Colombian star Juanes. (Mexico’s Juan Gabriel guests on another track.) The title of this song translates as “My Home Country,” literally the godmother country. It’s a protest song in the classic sense, wondering what happened to the values of Latin America, “the dreams of Simon Bolivar, Jose Marti, Vicente Guerrero.” Those dreams live in Downs, exuberantly manifest in this album, a range of musics and emotions, complementing and contrasting, in rich harmony — an embodiment of the ideals she holds for her homeland.”- Steve Hochman, KPCC/NPR “4 1Ž2 STARS – Balays y Chocolate, Lila Downs’ 11th album, is easily her most personal. She and her longstanding musical and life partner Paul Cohen focus squarely on the current condition of Mexico, and the turmoil that rages within it: the violence of the drug war, the disappearance of students, the migration of children, rampant international greed, and unrestricted capitalism played out on its soil are destroying a large, varied ecosystem and indigenous cultures. In originals and a canny choice of covers, Downs juxtaposes folk and popular styles from mariachi and cumbia to hip-hop, pop, son, ranchera, and even klezmer. “Humito de Copal” is a rumbling cumbia. Amid guitars, horns and layers of percussion, she sings (in Spanish), ‘…I am the person who disappeared/I am the woman who fought for her life/I am the student who is changing the rules/I am the one who demonstrates…I am nature’s witness/I speak the word that the earth cries….’ ‘Mano Negra’ weaves klezmer and cumbia on pre-Columbian instruments and mariachi horns. Lyrically, it juxtaposes Mexico’s violence with the beauty of its landscape. The title track addresses the plight of children who migrate across borders while their remaining families stay as it weaves funky, danceable pop adorned with swirling synth presets, accordions, horns, fat basslines, wah-wah guitars, and a hip-hop breakdown. Single “La Patria Madrina” is a killer duet with Colombian singer Juanes. The pair bridge the distance between Latin American struggles in the lyrics: “Saw hell, saw the news/Graves, the dead, destruction of Mother Nature….” Rock & roll, cumbia, mariachi, and achata come together seamlessly in a militant statement of a truth that refuses to surrender: “You are the country of all my dreams/He who disrespects, I will cut his heart in two…Today I woke up and my sight was clear/Today I planted a seed of corn in an old tire in my barrio….’ The covers here edify the originals. Juan Gabriel’s mariachi classic “La Farsante” is sequenced before a burning arrangement of Jesús Rosas Marcano’s “La Burra.” Downs and Cohen don’t forget the importance of love, either (there can be no revolution without love songs). “Cuando Me Tocas Tu” is a simmering ranchera with saxophones, nylon-string guitars, hand percussion, and lithe horns that illustrate longing, commitment, and desire. The closer, “Viene La Muerte Echandro Rasero” (“Death Is the Great Equalizer”) is a poem by Asunción Aguilar set to music. It is a celebration of death as a natural extension of life reflected in the celebration of Mexico’s Day of the Dead. Martial snares, horns, pulsing guitars, bajo sextos, and chanted choruses detail resolute determination, the hope in the moment. It, and Balas y Chocolate as a whole, express that as long as one breathes, change is possible. Everything is on the line on this album. Though it reflects the dire present, it is also a statement of profound faith in humanity’s future and an act of resistance against the powers of darkness.” – Thom Jurek, ALL MUSIC ______________________________________ Lila Downs’ Powerfully Outspoken New Album “Balas y Chocolate” Arrives With Full U.S. Release Tomorrow – April 14th “4 1Ž2 STARS – Balas y Chocolate, focuses squarely on the current condition of Mexico, and the turmoil that rages within it: the violence of the drug war, the disappearance of students, the migration of children, rampant international greed, and unrestricted capitalism played out on its soil-destroying a large, varied ecosystem and indigenous culture… Balas y Chocolate expresses that as long as one breathes, change is possible. Everything is on the line on this album. Though it reflects the dire present, it is also a statement of profound faith in humanity’s future and an act of resistance against the powers of darkness.” – ALL MUSIC MIAMI (April 13, 2015) – “Balas y Chocolate” is already riding a wave of critical acclaim from the album’s recent digital release, and call-to-arms first single & video “La Patria Madrina” – featuring Juanes, which has been hailed as: “a song of hope for Mexico and Latin America.” Now, Downs takes these forceful new songs on the road in a just started U.S. Tour (dates below). “A boldly vibrant statement of both her life and her country’s, in which dire tragedy and hopeful determination combine seamlessly and naturally… The dreams of Simon Bolivar, Jose Marti, Vicente Guerrero live in Lila Downs, exuberantly manifest in this album, a range of musics and emotions, complementing and contrasting, in rich harmony — an embodiment of the ideals she holds for her homeland.”- KPCC/NPR “Fluency in Spanish isn’t necessary to understand Lila Downs’ shape-shifting voice: It transcends language, carrying pure emotion. On “Balas y Chocolate” (Bullets and Chocolate), the Grammy-winning Downs expresses outrage and pain over events in Mexico” – Associated Press “In these current times, as violence in the region continues to reign, the cultural response from artists must be just as vigilant. Lila Downs’ ‘La Patria Madrina’ is a call-to-action” – Remezcla Look for Lila Downs to perform the new songs of “Balas y Chocolate” LIVE at these upcoming tour dates across the United States & Canada: 04/14 – San Luis Obispo, CA – Cal Poly Christopher Cohan Center 04/17 – San Diego, CA – Copley Symphony Hall 04/18 – Santa Rosa, CA – Weill Music Hall 04/21 – Modesto, CA – Gallo Center 04/22 – San Francisco, CA – Nourse Theatre 04/24 – Calgary, Canada – Arts Commons, Jack Singer Hall 04/26 – Vancouver, Canada – Chan Centre 04/28 – Seattle, WA – Neptune Theatre 05/01 – Washington DC – Lisner Auditorium 05/02 – Durham, NC – Carolina Theatre 05/06 – Chicago, IL – Auditorium Theatre, Roosevelt University 09/19 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Pantages Theater Expanded Sample Reviews Of LILA DOWNS’ “Balays y Chocolate” “Fluency in Spanish isn’t necessary to understand Lila Downs’ shape-shifting voice: It transcends language, carrying pure emotion. On her latest album, “Balas y Chocolate” (Bullets and Chocolate), the Grammy-winning Downs expresses outrage and pain over events in Mexico, her birthplace. And she capably blends traditional Latin rhythms with modern elements in an array of popular standards and her own compositions, her themes — treason, loss, death and love — woven throughout the 13 songs. Downs’ romantic bolero “Cuando Me Tocas” (When You Touch Me) is rendered achingly beautiful and accented by wavering breaths. “Mano Negra” (Black Hand) demonstrates her range of style in a terrific mash-up of pre-Colombian instruments and mariachi horns with rhythm and harmonics borrowed from Jewish klezmer. The gorgeous production allows Downs’ voice to soar solo to the edges of falsetto and contralto or dive into a blend of audio samples. Downs moves from operatic stylings to rap and everything in between, with both artistic exploration and pop sensibility, such as on the first-release single “La Patria Madrina” (Motherland) in which she pairs up with Colombian rocker Juanes. She sings: “You are the country of all of my dreams/He who doesn’t respect, I’ll split his heart in two.” More politically charged than her previous collections, the album’s lyrics are as much a lament as a call to action.” – Michelle Morgante, Associated Press “I’ve seen hell; I’ve seen the news’ sings Lila Downs at the start of the song ‘La Patria Madrina…. The song is a collaboration with Juanes, who Downs sees as something of a Latin American brother-in-arms…A video for the track flashes shots of deforestation, oil excavation, headlines of violence in Mexico, and images of war and consumerism… Downs says she was directly influenced by much-publicized incidents of violence in Mexico, like the abduction of 43 young men in 2014 in the state of Guerrero….Downs’ new album, ‘Balas y Chocolate’ could be her best. On the new record, the Grammy-winner known for her unique brand of rough Mexican-rooted folk party songs — and emotional ballads with the pull of incantations — goes to a higher level musically.” – Judy Cantor-Navas, Billboard “Bullets and chocolate? A rather darker twist on the old spoonful of sugar helping the medicine go down, perhaps. But it sums up the conditions of Mexico 2015, in the view of Lila Downs. Downs has long mixed seemingly contrasting images, not to mention musical styles, through 11 albums in a singularly dynamic career. Born in a small town in Oaxaca (where her mother was from), but spending much of her childhood in Minnesota (her father’s home), she celebrates her Mexican origins, but with an expansive worldview and voracious intellect and artistry. She’s long placed village folk songs alongside soaring rock and yearning ballads, put metal next to mariachi, even explored the aesthetic overlaps of Mexican street music with Eastern European Jewish klezmer. This album is what it all led to, a boldly vibrant statement of both her life and her country’s, in which dire tragedy and hopeful determination combine seamlessly and naturally, as do rancheras and metal-edged hip-hop. Balas y chocolate. And, in fact, all of that is in the title track, dedicated “to the children who migrate crossing borders, on the Latin American cacao route,” a very perilous journey. But as the song switches styles, it becomes more poetic, more fever-dream metaphor for personal survival through the many bullets of any life’s road, a horrifying yet familiar litany she recites in the course of the song. It’s as powerful as it is compelling. “I’m escaping to chocolate,” she sings at one point. “You are my chocolate.” The album’s tone throughout is informed by the political (the abduction and apparent murder of 43 students in the state of Guerrero last year is a major presence here) and the personal (motherhood and darkness with her husband and collaborator Paul Cohen dealing with serious health issues). Día de Los Muertos, the Mexican festivities both honoring and mocking death, is a thread running through the album. “La Patria Madrina,” the first single, is a defiant lament for a Mexico under siege of drug lords and industrialists and a hopeful call for action via cultural and political will, more forceful for the presence of her duet partner, Colombian star Juanes. (Mexico’s Juan Gabriel guests on another track.) The title of this song translates as “My Home Country,” literally the godmother country. It’s a protest song in the classic sense, wondering what happened to the values of Latin America, “the dreams of Simon Bolivar, Jose Marti, Vicente Guerrero.” Those dreams live in Downs, exuberantly manifest in this album, a range of musics and emotions, complementing and contrasting, in rich harmony — an embodiment of the ideals she holds for her homeland.”- Steve Hochman, KPCC/NPR “4 1Ž2 STARS – Balays y Chocolate, Lila Downs’ 11th album, is easily her most personal. She and her longstanding musical and life partner Paul Cohen focus squarely on the current condition of Mexico, and the turmoil that rages within it: the violence of the drug war, the disappearance of students, the migration of children, rampant international greed, and unrestricted capitalism played out on its soil are destroying a large, varied ecosystem and indigenous cultures. In originals and a canny choice of covers, Downs juxtaposes folk and popular styles from mariachi and cumbia to hip-hop, pop, son, ranchera, and even klezmer. “Humito de Copal” is a rumbling cumbia. Amid guitars, horns and layers of percussion, she sings (in Spanish), ‘…I am the person who disappeared/I am the woman who fought for her life/I am the student who is changing the rules/I am the one who demonstrates…I am nature’s witness/I speak the word that the earth cries….’ ‘Mano Negra’ weaves klezmer and cumbia on pre-Columbian instruments and mariachi horns. Lyrically, it juxtaposes Mexico’s violence with the beauty of its landscape. The title track addresses the plight of children who migrate across borders while their remaining families stay as it weaves funky, danceable pop adorned with swirling synth presets, accordions, horns, fat basslines, wah-wah guitars, and a hip-hop breakdown. Single “La Patria Madrina” is a killer duet with Colombian singer Juanes. The pair bridge the distance between Latin American struggles in the lyrics: “Saw hell, saw the news/Graves, the dead, destruction of Mother Nature….” Rock & roll, cumbia, mariachi, and achata come together seamlessly in a militant statement of a truth that refuses to surrender: “You are the country of all my dreams/He who disrespects, I will cut his heart in two…Today I woke up and my sight was clear/Today I planted a seed of corn in an old tire in my barrio….’ The covers here edify the originals. Juan Gabriel’s mariachi classic “La Farsante” is sequenced before a burning arrangement of Jesús Rosas Marcano’s “La Burra.” Downs and Cohen don’t forget the importance of love, either (there can be no revolution without love songs). “Cuando Me Tocas Tu” is a simmering ranchera with saxophones, nylon-string guitars, hand percussion, and lithe horns that illustrate longing, commitment, and desire. The closer, “Viene La Muerte Echandro Rasero” (“Death Is the Great Equalizer”) is a poem by Asunción Aguilar set to music. It is a celebration of death as a natural extension of life reflected in the celebration of Mexico’s Day of the Dead. Martial snares, horns, pulsing guitars, bajo sextos, and chanted choruses detail resolute determination, the hope in the moment. It, and Balas y Chocolate as a whole, express that as long as one breathes, change is possible. Everything is on the line on this album. Though it reflects the dire present, it is also a statement of profound faith in humanity’s future and an act of resistance against the powers of darkness.” – Thom Jurek, ALL MUSIC Sigue LILA DOWNS en / Follow LILA DOWNS on: www.liladowns.com/us/home www.facebook.com/LilaDownsOficial www.twitter.com/liladowns www.instagram.com/liladowns www.youtube.com/user/LilaDownsVEVO
