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As a follow-up to her 2005 Latin Grammy win, Mexican-American diva Lila Downs has chosen to release a loving tribute to canciones rancheras, the heartfelt ballads ubiquitous in cantinas throughout Mexico. With their merry accordion riffs and perky snare-led rhythms, the tunes can be reminiscent of Cajun music or Colombian cumbias, but even the cheeriest numbers harbor fate-haunted undertones. The singer’s darkly sweet, resonant voice interprets each the fifteen tracks to a fare-thee-well. Her fiery South-of-the-border exhibitionism and touches of dry humor are mirrored by assorted comedic whiz-bang sounds that surface amid the mostly acoustic mix. Third generation accordionist Flaco Jimenez, the doyen of Tex-Mex conjunto (a working class style descended from an older but still extant groove known as norteño,) weaves in and out among bass, harps, mariachi-like fiddles and assorted guitars. Peppered with antique-sounding bytes, dramatic spoken poems and even an in-your-face rap (during Tu Recuerdo Y Yo, track four), the album plays like a slightly surreal movie that is no less affecting for being nearly untranslatable. --Christina Roden