Album: Lila Downs, Y la Misteriosa en Paris – Live (World Village)

As the undisputed queen of Mexican village music, Lila Downs brings an unusual blend of additional influences, and her art is unique.

This is her first live album, and it's full of atmosphere, and her protean voice – modulating from a girlish whisper to a clarion call to a liberated lark – now seems larger than life, which allows her political message to come across all the more forcefully. She and her musicians interweave accordion, harp and clarinet with bass, drums and electric guitar; it's all irresistibly wild.