Aren't they beautiful?
The woman on the left is Lila Downs and on the right is Chavela Vargas. They both sing unbelievable music. I happened to find this picture of both of them on Lila Downs' myspace page and I thought it was wonderful. I'm sure that they both met while in the movie Frida.
Chavela is very much a ranchera singer. I heard Chavela's music back in college in one of my classes when we were talking about "La Llorona". She has a very haunting version of that song- my absolute favorite version of it. She is in her late 80s now, and was supposedly one of Frida Kahlo's lovers when she was young. I really love her music and she sings it with such force and passion it makes you feel like you should have a bottle of tequila sitting beside you singing along with her. She was born in Costa Rica, but went to Mexico and still lives there today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gQ31m4Yt0s
Lila sings more folk music than anything else, but she has a CD out that is mostly ranchera music as well. Her voice has so many variations that it is amazing. My favorite song of hers varies depending on my mood, but some of my favorites are: la niña, malagueña, arenita azul, cumbia del mole and agua de rosas. You never know quite what to expect from her music. One is slow and somber and then next she's dancing around singing about mole (a Mexican sauce). Her father is from the US and her mother is Mixtec indian from Mexico, so she sings in both English and Spanish and sometimes an indigenous mixtec language. http://www.liladowns.org/lila/
I was fortunate enough to go to Lila Downs' concert in 2006 and I am going to be fortunate enough to go again in 2009. I already have my tickets to the concert on March 25. One day I would love to go to a concert with Chavela, but I don't think she is singing publicly too much anymore.
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