The daughter of an American professor father and Mixtec singer mother, the Oaxaca-born singer-songwriter and actress Lila Downs has long been a champion of Mexico’s indigenous populations; For evidence, look no further than the video for her duet with Juanes “La Patria Modina,” which highlights the real-world after effects of NAFTA and the US-Mexico drug war on indigenous Mexicans. While her early work was often jazzy, she quickly evolved into a folkloric style, and eventually would dabble in ranchera, bolero, blues, and soul, singing in indigenous languages such as Mixtec, Zapotec, Mayan, Nahuatl and Purépecha on her way to winning a Grammy (Pecados y Milagros, 2010) and three Latin Grammy awards. She’s joined by indigenous Colombian-Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter Lido Pimienta, who pairs traditional indigenous and afro-Colombian rhythms with next-gen synthesizers and electronic compositions—she won the 2017 Polaris Music Prize for her LP La Papessa. With DJ Ripley, a Brooklyn/Philly-based border-busting DJ that celebrates people’s stories across race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality with global street bass sounds.
