SFJAZZ | Backstage: Making of a Song w/ Lila Downs (“Son del Chile Frito”) @sfjazz | Uploaded September 2024 | Updated October 2024, 5 hours ago.
Tickets are still available for Lila Downs’ 10/12 performance at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, but going fast:
sfjazz.org/tickets/productions/24-25/lila-downs-dia-de-los-muertos
Jazz’s greatest artists trace the evolution of a composition from conception to performance, and you’re invited on the journey – backstage and on-stage.
Latin GRAMMY-winning vocalist Lila Downs takes us through the meaning behind her savory song “Son del Chile Frito” – a traditional huapango from her album “Al Chile” that celebrates the spiciness and vitality of life and the desire to break down the borders that separate us. That spirit is abundant during her performance of the song on the Miner Auditorium stage in May 2019 during the 2018-19 Season.
ABOUT LILA DOWNS
With “a stunning voice, a confident multicultural vision grounded in her Mixtec Indian roots” (LA Times), GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY-winning vocalist Lila Downs is one of the most celebrated singers of her generation. She is known to SFJAZZ audiences for her season highlight performances at Oakland’s Paramount Theatre, celebrating Día de los Muertos, Mexico’s Day of the Dead. A native of Oaxaca, Downs built a career bridging cultures and languages, both as a musician and social activist for humanitarian causes. Growing up as the daughter of a Mixtec singer and a renowned American photographer, Downes blended a deep passion for the traditions of her homeland with an ingrained wanderlust. With guidance from her mother and inspiration from Mexican vocal greats Chavela Vargas and Lucha Villa balanced by the gamut of American music she heard in the States, Downs began singing rancheras at eight and explored the indigenous music of the Mixtec and Zapotec traditions of Oaxaca. She made her major label debut with 1999’s jazz informed La Sandunga, and her contributions to the 2002 Frida Kahlo biopic Frida elevated her status to that of a major international star. Downs has become recognized worldwide as a global ambassador for Mexico’s folkloric traditions and champion for the preservation of native Mexican culture, recording songs in indigenous Mayan, Nahuatl, Trique, and Purépecha languages. Her newest Sony Music album, La Sánchez, is influenced by the music of northern Mexico and is a tribute to recognizing the maternal influence and the vicissitudes of personal and social relationships.
Learn more at SFJAZZ.org
Subscribe to SFJAZZ's YouTube Channel: youtube.com/c/sfjazz
Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/SFJAZZ
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/SFJAZZ
***SFJAZZ is a non-profit organization that presents year round jazz concerts, festivals and educational programs at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, CA.
Tickets are still available for Lila Downs’ 10/12 performance at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, but going fast:
sfjazz.org/tickets/productions/24-25/lila-downs-dia-de-los-muertos
Jazz’s greatest artists trace the evolution of a composition from conception to performance, and you’re invited on the journey – backstage and on-stage.
Latin GRAMMY-winning vocalist Lila Downs takes us through the meaning behind her savory song “Son del Chile Frito” – a traditional huapango from her album “Al Chile” that celebrates the spiciness and vitality of life and the desire to break down the borders that separate us. That spirit is abundant during her performance of the song on the Miner Auditorium stage in May 2019 during the 2018-19 Season.
ABOUT LILA DOWNS
With “a stunning voice, a confident multicultural vision grounded in her Mixtec Indian roots” (LA Times), GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY-winning vocalist Lila Downs is one of the most celebrated singers of her generation. She is known to SFJAZZ audiences for her season highlight performances at Oakland’s Paramount Theatre, celebrating Día de los Muertos, Mexico’s Day of the Dead. A native of Oaxaca, Downs built a career bridging cultures and languages, both as a musician and social activist for humanitarian causes. Growing up as the daughter of a Mixtec singer and a renowned American photographer, Downes blended a deep passion for the traditions of her homeland with an ingrained wanderlust. With guidance from her mother and inspiration from Mexican vocal greats Chavela Vargas and Lucha Villa balanced by the gamut of American music she heard in the States, Downs began singing rancheras at eight and explored the indigenous music of the Mixtec and Zapotec traditions of Oaxaca. She made her major label debut with 1999’s jazz informed La Sandunga, and her contributions to the 2002 Frida Kahlo biopic Frida elevated her status to that of a major international star. Downs has become recognized worldwide as a global ambassador for Mexico’s folkloric traditions and champion for the preservation of native Mexican culture, recording songs in indigenous Mayan, Nahuatl, Trique, and Purépecha languages. Her newest Sony Music album, La Sánchez, is influenced by the music of northern Mexico and is a tribute to recognizing the maternal influence and the vicissitudes of personal and social relationships.
Learn more at SFJAZZ.org
Subscribe to SFJAZZ's YouTube Channel: youtube.com/c/sfjazz
Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/SFJAZZ
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/SFJAZZ
***SFJAZZ is a non-profit organization that presents year round jazz concerts, festivals and educational programs at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, CA.
