16:30 - 17:30
Sean Rafferty presents a selection of music and guests from the arts world.
   LILA DOWNS La Cantina Narada LILA DOWNS La Cantina "Entre Copa y Copa" (EMI/ Narada 0946-3-34248-2-1) Culturally and artistically, Latin Grammy winner Lila Downs continues to develop as one of the most compelling singers to straddle the US-Mexico border. Her fifth release is an essay on the Mexican working-class ranchera ballad and other popular forms, poignant songs of love, betrayal and retribution. Three Downs originals open the album. La Cumbia del Mole is her tribute to the women of her native Oaxaca, in southern Mexico (a striking music video of the song, filmed in the Oaxaca market, can be found on the artist's website); an English-language version of the song appears later in the album. El Corrido de Tacha "La Teibolera", with Flaco Jiménez (accordeon) and Max Baca (bajo sexto), gives a Tex-Mex feel to the tale of a young woman determined to overcome the depredations of being abandoned by her family to a forced marriage. Agua de Rosas is Downs's salute to a female shaman of Juchitán, Oaxaca, who prescribed a rosewater remedy to banish her sadness. The balance of the album interprets some of Mexico's best-loved popular songs, beginning with José Alfredo Jiménez's classic Tu Recuerdo y Yo, and La Cama de Piedra (Bed Of Stone), whose plaintive refrain wholly captures the ranchera spirit: "If it's a crime to love you, then let them sentence me to death." Shifting genres, El Relampago is a son calentano from western Mexico's Michoacan 'hot lands', combining a forceful chorus whose harmonising vocals play upon a lively array of harp, vihuela and violin. But as with all the material covered here, the arrangements are pure Downs, mixing harp and strings, marimba, percussion, hip-hop, DJ techniques (courtesy of Charanga Cakewalk's Michael Ramos, Aneiro Taño and Downs's partner, Paul Cohen, clarinettist and musical director), Levantine modes, slashing electric guitar, Mexican brass band accents, and the artist's sultry spoken interjections. Downs's remarkable talent for mimicry, her operatic reach, her sense of drama, her passion for the music and its land of origin, make this another landmark in her artistic development. Michael Stone Review from fRoots magazine Aug/Sept 2006. fRoots magazine Album Review on bbc.co.uk/music Read other people's comments then  Tell us what you think:David Francia Jenny, Zürich Peter Schüsselbauer Regensburg Germany Miguel Morán, Cancun, Mexico cjjvander@scarlet.nl Carl Peterborough Gar Dorset | |
| ||||||||||||
| | |
Listen to 'Agua de Rosas'
BBC iD
BBC iDBBC navigation
BBC links
BBC © 2014The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
