by Abel Salas Lila Downs, the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter with roots in Oaxaca and the U.S., has often been described as a “Mexican chanteuse,” a outdated label that falls far short of doing justice to her creative vision, vocal prowess and riveting stage presence. Musically, her 20-year career has been sustained by a powerful, multi-octave voice that turns everything from Cuco Sanchez cantina heartbreak songs to torch-singer classics such as “La Llorona” into blazing, yet still sultry balms for the soul. Her original compositions are as apt to address political realities as they are to broach everyday life with a melancholic, brooding intensity. Or conversely, the songs will manifest themselves firmly as tender love songs that are both lullabies whispered to an infant and hypnotic incantations meted out to melt a lover’s heart. Over the phone from her home in Oaxaca, Ana Lila Downs Sánchez switches easily from Spanish to English. And while it’s been said countless t...