Lila Downs' music has benefited strongly from her Mexican and Indian roots. JOANNE MACE finds out more.

MEXICAN-BORN American singer Lila (pronounced Leela) Downs has always been acutely aware of the issue of identity.

Apart from her dual nationality, her father is a Scottish-American cinematographer and painter who moved to Mexico originally to make a documentary about the blue-winged teal's annual migration, meeting her Mixtec-Indian mother Anita along the way.

Little wonder that an investigation into her past has dominated most of her music to date.

"I'm looking for my identity as I come from a mixed couple," she begins in a soft, though heavily-accented, voice.

"I rejected my Mexican and Indian roots initially but it has been, for me, very different with every album. The second one was more consciously speaking about my ancestry, while the third was about immigration and people who migrate to North America to work in the fields or in restaurants. The last album is my perspective as a woman looking to the fruit of humanity in terms of blood and my identity.

"There's a double standard with immigration. The government in the US put forward an anti-immigration stance but, at the same time, people are for hire at less than the amount they should make. There's a need to express that."

And Lila (pictured) is just the woman for the job - a graduate of the University of Minnesota, who has also managed to work in her mother's car parts store, sold jewellery on the streets, woven cloth in the mountains and written a thesis on the symbolism created by the Triqui women in their weaving, as well as turning down an early opportunity to become an opera singer.

"I think there were many things I couldn't identify with that world because I just wanted to relax, drop out and feel that you're a part of the mix. It was an experimental time for me and the classical world is very rigid. That structure was not what I was about at that time."

And so she began singing on the club scene, making albums and a name for herself before she hit the big time with her contribution to the film Frida, starring Salma Hayek as the famous tortured Mexican artist.

The album went on to sell more than 200,000 copies.

"Elliot Goldenthaal, who did the soundtrack for the film, came to Mexico to hear me sing, then the director Julie Taymor came and asked me if I wanted to be in a couple of scenes. I feel very fortunate. I've always been interested in the life of Frida Kahlo and her own search for identity.

"I do feel transported by my emotion a lot - invisibility makes me angry because the general populous is so ignorant about the origins of culture. We could be a little more informed and help each other."

In an attempt to do this, Lila has involved video artist and photographer Elena Pardo, who projects video and photo images onto a screen during her concerts.

"I'm trying to make a concert experience more rich, about the narratives I'm singing about - people migrating, women working in factories, a human rights volunteer murdered.

"I've felt that responsibility so far and I am enamoured with the power of art and music. Sometimes I think I can bring people together when you can make a strong, but at the same time less overt, message. Sometimes people get turned off by something that is too obviously political.

"I try to make translations of the songs and talk a little bit about them - not like going to school. In every country they have favourite ways of seeing Mexicans or Latin Americans.

"Sometimes I focus on stereotypes and help the audience open their eyes to a very different Latin America. We also have a good time - that's very important."

Susana Baca, Lila Downs and Yusa will be appearing at The Anvil on Friday, June 25, at 7.30pm.

Tickets, priced 17.50, with concessions available, can be purchased from the box office by calling 01256 844244.