Lila Downs

Ana Lila Downs Sánchez best known as Lila Downs (born in September 19, 1968) is a Mexican singer-songwriter. She performs her own compositions as well as tapping into Mexican traditional and popular music. She also incorporates indigenous mexican influences and has recorded songs in indigenous languages such as mixtec, zapotec, maya, nahuatl and p'urhépecha. Her debut album, La Sandunga, was released in 1999 and she achieved international success in 2001 with the album Border who emerged in the music scene of Mexico and Latin America in the early 2000s (decade) decade. Lila began performing in school, demonstrating her vocal ability with traditional music, Latin and American influences with her own original twist on dancing. Downs is a native spanish speaker and also speaks fluent english and mixtec.