Lila Downs is a singer and composer specialised in the music of the indigenous peoples of Mexico. She has just returned with Ojo de culebra, one of her records that is most open to fusion, including genres ranging from cumbia, ranchera, reggae and pop to rock, blues, gypsy music, through versions of Southern US classics such as Black magic woman, Peter Green’s classic made popular by Santana in the 70s, or Lucinda Williams’ I envy the wind.

In Ojo de culebra there is also a combination of popular and electric instruments wrapping festive, dense, light, contemplative and danceable songs with lyrics about women who take risks, nature, food, the paradoxes of life or current affairs such as immigration, political justice or the transformation of society.

With Ojo de culebra, which has coincided with the process of overcoming a very deep life crisis which even led her to lose her voice, and for which the help of a famous Oaxaca curandera (healer) was decisive (that is why the record is a tribute to the shamans and healers of Mexico), she once again shows that for her music is a path in search of internal peace, to feel less pain, return pride to the downtrodden indigenous cultures and help change consciences.

www.liladowns.com