Lila Downs Interview and Performance at Democracy Now!

[Music] this is democracy now democracynow.org the war and peace report I'm Amy Goodman were broadcasting from well today our music studios and we're here with the acclaimed Mexican American Mexican singer Lila Downs and she has a new CD out and it's called al chilly welcome to you know it's great to have you with us thank you so much before we get into the meaning of the title of your CD I wanted to ask you about el clandestino which certainly takes on new meaning every year I would in 1998 decades ago Manu Chao song but talk about what it means well I guess I think it's important to always remember what immigration means and over 10,000 years ago people came over Bering Straits and populated this continent and I think that those of us who have felt that we are connected to this kind of life I guess we need to be reminded by wonderful songs such as clandestino manu chao peace and what does clandestino mean I mean clandestine translated into English but more than that right well it's an illegal basically and illegal I think it's it's a tough word it's a tough word to deal with the call and a human person yeah and illegal yeah I think for me it's when I when I saw these videos about the children in the detention centers that's when I really broke down and I and I thought I need to say something once again about this on every album I devoted a piece to immigration as we're doing this interview today we got news that yet another child has died in immigration custody in this country once again Guatemalan today a teenager we learned a 16 year old boy so far his name has been withheld a died of an infection in his brain as he was helped being held by immigration your thoughts sad inhumane situation I think that hopefully we can we can write more songs we can change legislation and we can make people more aware of these difficult times towards towards immigrants can you share the words of clandestino in English yeah well it says solo economy pana I am alone with my with my my baggage or my pain it can be interpreted as both so lava makan Dana this is my destiny Quorra resume destino to run is constantly my destiny in order to to be illegal it's it's very simple really very strong very powerful song we're talking to Lila Downs can you talk about the power of music to transform society when you're feeling utterly frustrated as you cross the border from Mexico you live in Oaxaca to the United States and back again so many are being detained yeah it's it's really difficult for me because it's painful it's about being feeling feeling towards the US and and feeling towards empathy towards people who who come here and and feel like this is their home their adopted home and I guess that I have always had such admiration for the US I think the u.s. is a tremendously amazing place and so it's said to see this other side that has you know anger and kind of a vengeance that I feel is is not a civilized way of dealing with with immigration let's turn to clandestino by Manu Chao sung by Lila Downs right here in democracy now studios I'd like to introduce the band so this is Ron Wilkins from San Antonio Texas on trombone Josh Deutsch from Seattle trumpet mr. Quan Chau era later on guitar from Venezuela a New York City Somali totora is some percussion from Columbia New York City on grace mr. Rafa Gomez from Venezuela in New York City in cinah Padilla and caranas and voice from Mexico should I make you so awake on me Benin so lava mink on Dana Carreras me destino para ver la la la they read I knew Corazon de la grande Babylon Mary singing clandestino for no llevar papel found a skewed a little more thing you may free her in one night so you know Yasuda a previous era de nosotros scene open Samah los ninos so love [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you can meet Ben hola mami Collina Carreras me there's been a parody Randall corisande Bobby long maybe sing clandestino [Music] what Maria the States of America [Music] [Applause] children that's Lila down singing clandestino by Manu Chao actually written back in 1998 referring to clandestine people to people who are quote illegal and what that means today talk about producing this CD and why you call it a chilli well I wanted to change the production kind of go out there and record things in their natural state and and so I looked for Camila Lara he's a producer who has done a number of recordings with with both kind of pop and rock and also what would you say the tropical movement from the 70s in Latin America and and I'm so in love with this era you know the 70s is something that I'm crazy about so so it was a wonderful experience we actually he was telling me he had to pay over 200 musicians who collaborated on this album and we recorded some of the tracks in Mexico City and then we went off to Oaxaca and recorded as a patek indigenous band in which he done and also in Oaxaca City recorded another band and together with some classic bands from the 70s Rigo Tovar band Costa Azul and also Sonora Tropicana and with the Instituto mexicana de sonido came up with this kind of mix of influences both the rural influences of music you know brass bands and also dance bands from the city and why and why of Chile the chili pepper yeah well I am in love with this subject right now of course in Mexico it has double meaning well you know I think that we're always joking about Chile in Chile being a sexual receptacle so spice is definitely the center of our lives and I think that it also explores our character and personality and and so we love it and the curious thing is men have a very different reaction to the to the phrase and women just start laughing about dear someone which features Norah Jones yeah oh it was so fun to meet Norah Jones we came to New York to record with her in Brooklyn and and she played the piano and she's such a natural musical force and she's a lovely person very introspective and and sensitive and and she chose this song by Gillian Welch for us to sing she had a Mexican singer friend who passed a while a while back and I think it was kind of an ode or homage to this friend of hers from Texas let's go to dear someone wanna go all over the world and start living free I know that there's somebody who is way [Music] hi beautiful steady into as soon as it's done [Music] I'm gonna sail along in a dream of my dear so [Music] [Music] little star smiling tonight knows where you [Music] stay little star steady to guide me [Music] the d4 no bigger [Music] hurry and take me straight into the arms of my dear so hurry and take me into the arms of my dear son [Music] take to the dear someone that's Lila Downs performing in our studio here at democracy now the album actually features Norah Jones what's it like to do these collaborations and also to do this kind of cross-border collaboration you did it in Brooklyn you did it in Oaxaca where you live you did it all over yeah yeah well I think that it's so beautiful when you can somehow translate and bring different worlds together and because sometimes there's there's a lot a lot of things that are lost in translation I think that's an amazing thing that means it can do that you know and and this this album is actually when people ask me well you know how do you feel about it or it's not it is a very intuitive album I think all the pieces are very you know dance oriented and I think it wasn't as inspired by the mind or the or the heart but more by the waist on down you talk about your tattoo what it says yeah this was an important tattoo that that I had done a few years back called and it says under hospital which means respect and I have realized after therapy why I needed to get this done yeah I was feeling a little lost going back to Mexico after living many years outside of Mexico so going back to a very traditional community is it's a difficult thing and but you know I love challenges so you also perform the song katha Nieto do you explain what that means and why this was your choice yeah well Correa Nieto is this beautiful Peruvian that is written by uncle Anibal and people know this piece from the 70s and cumbia you know takes over all of Latin America it's a genre of course mainly from Colombia and also the Andean kind of Andean region and actually this cumbia is called an Andean cumbia and and then there are several other pieces that are cumbia classics like los caminos de la Vida and and there are also some other classic songs for dance let's go to cutting meat [Music] yo [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] yo [Music] you're all [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] that's Kayden Ito performed by the six-time Grammy award-winning Lila Downs talk about winning Grammys one after another after another after another and what that means what it does for your music I know just what it means to popularize your music in two languages on both sides of the border well I think that I need to remind myself of it and and then it makes me take myself serious because I I think sometimes I just I try to be a regular person and and so in in a creative sense I think it does affect what you do the next time around and and so it's it's a it feels like you you have a responsibility in my case I love to incorporate folk music and you know significance and meaning in in the songs and so it's you know it gives me the reason to to come up with something more interesting the next time and you also are famous for singing about President Trump talk about this we last spoke right when your album had come out mm-hmm and now it's a few years later into president Trump's term first term or final term we'll see but talk about what he is meant for you mm-hmm well I think there's darkness in the world and I think if you spend too much time focusing on it constantly that darkness does take over so I think that's why it's important to find for myself projects that that make me feel positive about my life and about the future of the country that I'm living in right now it's Mexico so I feel like you know I need to stop focusing on Trump but I do think that you know because of him Latin Americans have come together and that is something I'm grateful for you've also seen the election of AMLO of Andres Milo in Mexico what about that and do you feel that he is changing Mexico I think it's too soon to say and things seem a little chaotic because it's quite a change but I think we need to be on top of the change you know we need to be careful with with how things will be changing but also not lose faith so quickly the demagogue talked about writing that song yeah well I think when when President Trump was elected I just couldn't believe what was happening you know I think because in in our music and in our lives we have worked so hard to try and kind of cover these gaps of or these bridges that we were talking about between people and and then here comes somebody that just believes in dividing us even more that was very depressing and difficult for me to deal with so I had to write a song about it about the demagogue you didn't perform it here today but the last time you were in our study performed and I want to go to that right now this is demagogue at the edge of the world where the factories are there's a burning of hatred let's cry seeing the lines there's a boo man thinks he's king of the world he's bullied salesman selling fear and hate who do you think you are he plays us with his hate turns man against men but it's really not a game and I pray to the ancestors love do not be fooled by this man's foolish talk the serpent woke again at different times and places there's a burning cross feeding the mob people in Chains he's a quack circus a creeper from the past he's the symbol of a monster we no longer want to be what we used to be [Applause] earth trembles with these names Mussolini Adolf Hitler Pino JIT no respect for woman no respect for race no respect for anything that lives the human but he cannot Oh Oh [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] my love is much stronger than hate wins I'm gonna change my fate [Applause] that's Lila down singing her song the demagogue and give about president Trump how have audiences responded to it over these two years I think a lot of people were surprised and especially Latin people were like oh my god this is pretty direct so yeah thank you for playing that so as you now release this album it's right around Cinco DeMayo talked about the significance of that day and how you hope people will respond traveling here in the United States and Europe and Mexico yeah well you know I didn't know about the significance of Cinco de Mayo until I went to a little indigenous community in Puebla Nahuatl and they spoke Nahuatl in total naka in this community and they said to me that during Benito Suarez when he was the president he asked for support from the United States because we were being invaded by the French and that's why that is such an important date between the u.s. and and Mexico and they they helped of course to fight against the French and and so I was just very surprised I did not know this and I am very yeah very happy to hear this one more point that we can be united on some on some things and finally talk about the wall and what the wall means on both sides of the border as you travel back and forth president Trump's wall who said Mexico would pay for if they haven't Republicans and Democrats both said no to the wall and so he simply appropriated eight billion dollars of taxpayer money and said he's going to build it anyway oh my goodness well I think we should we should create art along this area and and I think we should come together and really show that we have love for each other and I know that I sound like a crazy hippie but I really do think that that's the way to deal with something like this I think we need to show that the border area everyone is brothers and sisters and their families and you know when you live in that area you you realize that there's no way that a wall is gonna function well I want to thank you Lila down six-time Grammy Award winning songwriter singer Lila Downs here in democracy now studios the new album that's just out in this beginning of May is called al chilly I'm Amy Goodman thanks so much for joining us [Music]

Channel: Democracy Now!

Views: 9,375

Keywords: Democracy Now, Amy Goodman, DN, News, Politics, democracynow.org, Video, Independent Media, Daily News, Breaking News, World News, Interview, Lila Downs, lila downs manu chao, lila downs interview, lila downs interview english, lila downs music, lila downs trump, lila downs donald trump, Lila Downs Democracy Now, Democracy Now Lila

Id: 5O8o53SdEqs

Length: 31min 13sec (1873 seconds)

Published: Fri May 03 2019