A Universal Language

I commend Agustin Gurza for featuring Lila Downs and her “Border/La Linea” CD among his top 10 (“A List Without Borders,” Jan. 6)

Neither am I Latin nor do I even speak Spanish, and yet this recording has spoken to me, more eloquently than any other in recent memory. In various dialects and rhythms, Downs conveys the depth, complexity, joys and pain involved in the struggle to find and attain personal and cultural freedom. She does so with a magnificent five-octave range and sympathetic musical backing.

Lest anyone gets the notion she is some provincial, semi-esoteric artist, listen to her virtual hip-hop reworking of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.” It not only reveals Guthrie’s true intent, but goes further, exploding Bruce Springsteen’s plaintive “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” turning it defiant and relevant.

This recording and the one that preceded it (“La Sandunga”) represent truly transcendent music-making.

BARRY SHAPIRO

Los Angeles