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Singer-songwriter Lila Downs uses these 15 compositions (both originals and covers) to explore the joys and sorrows experienced by Mexican immigrants who cross the border for a better life only to experience exploitation and racism in this country. A child of a Mixtec Indian mother and Anglo-American father, the talented Downs brings in a fresh perspective from two cultural worlds. She imbues the Mexican cumbia style--which is itself a variation on a Colombian form of dance music integrating Latin, Native American, and African styles--with blues, jazz, and even a little hip-hop as pre-Colombian and Mexican percussion nestles comfortably with strings and electric guitar, piano, and bass. Lila Downs is a wide-ranging singer who passionately expresses her melancholic subject matter without lapsing into melodrama, and with this album she crosses musical borders of her own. --Bryan Reesman