In Perfiles de América, we explore the artist beyond her music. Lila Downs is deeply involved with the social and political issues affecting both sides of the Mexican American border. Her music is created as a result of her studies as an Anthropologist and Historian, all this integrated with her own personal journey  through out the Mexican and the American cultures. Lila Downs was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, she  won three Grammys for her songs in Spanish, English, and numerous indigenous languages. The inspiration for her music is a youth split between Mexico and the United States listening to jazz standards; Woody Guthrie ballads; and the winsome rancheras of her mother of Mixtec descent. Her voice is warm, smoky, and surprisingly strong, like a cup of bitter coffee right when you need it. Her most recent Grammy: Best Regional Mexican Music Album in 2012 for Pecados y Milagros, praised by the New York Times for “a thrilling, chameleonic voice at its center: one that can go for playfulness, operatic bravura or tearful, heart-on-sleeve melodrama. Her most-recent album: 2014′s Raíz, a collaboration between herself, Niña Pastori, and Soledad wan the 2014′s Latin Grammy. Congratulations! This program was broadcasted on August 5th, [...]