Nacida en Oaxaca, México, Downs es la hija de la cantante mixteca Anita Sánchez y del escocés-americano Allen Downs, un profesor de arte y director de cine. Ella creció entre Oaxaca, California y Minnesota, donde se graduó de la Universidad de Minnesota con un título en canto clásico y en antropología. El saxofonista, productor y compositor Paul Cohen, director musical de La Misteriosa, es también su marido.
Aug 11 Chicago, IL House of Blues – en vivo a través del canal Live Nation en Yahoo Music!
Aug 19 San Diego, CA House of Blues (parte de la serie de AT&T Música Ya!)
Aug 22 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre (parte de la serie de AT&T Música Ya!)
Aug 24 Chandler, AZ Ovations Live Showroom (parte de la serie de AT&T Música Ya!)
Aug 31 San Antonio, TX Majestic Theatre – presentado por Esperanza Center for Peace & Justice
Los músicos incluidos en esta gira son:
Lila Downs – Vocal, percusión, guitarra acústica
Paul Cohen – Director musical, saxofón (tenor) y clarinete
Rafael Gómez – Guitarra eléctrica y acústica
Luis Guzmán – Bajo
George Saenz – Trombón y acordeón
Yayo Serka – Batería y percusión
Leo Soqui – Acordeón, jarana y teclado
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Tour launches August 11 at Chicago House of Blues with live streaming concert via Live Nation Channel on Yahoo Music!
New CD “Raíz” with Argentina’s Soledad and Spain’s Niña Pastori, to be released August 12 under Sony Music

Hispanic Roots project follows GRAMMY-winning “Pecados y Milagros”
The work of GRAMMY®and two-time Latin GRAMMY® winner Mexican-American singer and songwriter Lila Downs has always been driven by a passion to explore her roots.
Now in Raiz, a collaboration with Soledad, from Argentina, and Niña Pastori, from Spain, both singers and songwriters known for celebrating and expanding their own musical traditions — Downs takes that passion into new territory.
The new recording will be released August 12 on Sony Music. The night before, Downs will be performing some of the songs from Raiz in a special concert at the House of Blues in Chicago. The August 11 show will stream live on the new Live Nation channel on Yahoo! Live.
The concert also will mark the beginning of a tour in the United States that will take Downs and her longtime band, La Misteriosa, to California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. On her Chicago show and throughout the tour, Downs will be performing material from her earlier releases, including 2012’s GRAMMY® and Latin GRAMMY®-winning Pecados y Milagros, and previewing songs from her next solo CD, tentatively set for release in early 2015.
“The president of Sony Latin, Afo Verde, had this idea a few years back,” said Downs. “I believe he and Soledad [Pastorutti] were talking about ways of getting music from Argentina out, so they toyed with the idea of a collaboration and thought of various singers. And when they mentioned it to me, I found it interesting. I love to learn about different traditions and María [María Rosa García García, better known as Niña Pastori] also seemed ready to try something different. I think it also had to do with the point in our lives. We all have small children and we all have worked a lot on our own, so we were ready to try something different.”
The 12 tracks in the album include Down’s favorites such as “Zapata se Queda,” “Tierra de Luz” and “Cumbia del Mole,” but also tracks such as the classic tango “El Día Que Me Quieras,” the waltz “Que Nadie Sepa Mi Sufrir,” once recorded by Edith Piaf, and Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez´ “La Maza.” The repertory also includes songs by two-time Latin GRAMMY® winner Niña Pastori (“Válgame Dios”) and by Latin GRAMMY®-nominee Soledad (“Chacarera Para Mi Vuelta”).
Musically, the arrangements cover a broad spectrum of Ibero-American styles, from boleros and chacareras to tanguillos and huapangos.
“We first chose each other’s songs,” explains Downs. “Soledad picked my songs and I picked her songs and Maria’s; Maria picked mine and so on. Then we learned the songs, we did our own arrangements in our own countries and we all got together in Mexico City to record the vocals. I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished.”
All three singers perform in all the songs, each giving the material at hand a distinct flavor.
“Originally we thought we’d do more solo things and [there would be] three songs in which everybody sang,” recalls Downs. “But when we heard the album … we decided we all had to add our voices to the tracks. So we adapted our styles and it was all part of the teamwork, and I’m very happy with how it worked out musically.”
Since the release of Pecados y Milagros, Downs has expanded her fan base exponentially. She had a spectacular performance at the 2013 Latin GRAMMY® telecast featuring folk music champions Colombian singer Totó La Momposina and accordionist Celso Piña. And she also has performed to the largest live audiences yet in her career, including her first appearance on Carnegie Hall’s main stage, multiple sold-out concerts in Mexico City’s 12,000-seat Auditorio Nacional, and a very special tribute concert to her late father at the University of Minnesota.
Pecados y Milagros, her first CD for Sony Music Latin, also topped the album charts in Mexico for six weeks, reaching double platinum sales.
This has been a time of many honors for Downs, including a GRAMMY®, a Latin GRAMMY®, an invite to perform at the White House — and having a newly-discovered species of Mexican grasshopper, the brightly colored Liladownsia fraile, named after her.
“It was a great honor,” she says with a hearty laugh. “I never imagined anything like that would happen in my lifetime.”
Born in Oaxaca, Mexico, Downs is the daughter of Mixtec singer Anita Sánchez and Allen Downs, a Scottish-American art professor and filmmaker. She grew up in Oaxaca, California, and Minnesota, where she graduated from the University of Minnesota with degrees in voice and anthropology. Saxophonist, producer and songwriter Paul Cohen, the musical director of La Misteriosa, is also her husband.
LILA DOWNS – USA TOUR 2014
Aug 11 Chicago, IL House of Blues – streaming on new Live Nation Channel on Yahoo! Live
Aug 13 Saratoga, CA Montalvo Garden Theatre
Aug 14 Sacramento, CA Crest Theatre
Aug 16 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
Aug 17 Napa, CA City Winery
Aug 19 San Diego, CA House of Blues (part of AT&T Musica Ya! series)
Aug 22 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre (part of AT&T Musica Ya! series)
Aug 24 Chandler, AZ Ovations Live Showroom (part of AT&T Musica Ya! series)
Aug 25 Tucson, AZ Rialto Theatre
Aug 27 Santa Fe, NM Lensic Theatre
Aug 28 Houston, TX House of Blues
Aug 30 Dallas, TX House of Blues
Aug 31 San Antonio, TX Majestic Theatre – presented by Esperanza Center for Peace & Justice