Lila Downs took her commanding, enchanting post behind the mic at the Fillmore Saturday night, weaving her arms like a serpent amid the dry ice smoke as the tom-toms played the opening strains of "Black Magic Woman." You could already smell the pot.
"Que pasa, San Francisco?" she greeted her audience. "I'd like to dedicate this next song to the beautiful spirits of this amazing Bay Area. You changed the world, man!"
Downs and her eight back-up musicians - hailing from points as varied as Chile, Colombia, and San Francisco's Japantown - entertained a sold-out crowd with a concert inflected by just as many musical influences, the signature stamp of the half-American, half-Mexican musician. The Latino professionals and Frida Kahlo wannabes came out in droves.
In her style that's been sexing it up in recent years while retaining her native influences, Downs came out decked in a Native American patterned strapless top and her signature Oaxacan style tapestry fashioned into a fringed sarong. Add in the leather boots and the two long braids, the effect was that of those big-busted Aztec woman in the painting at a Mexican restaurant near you. Downs donned a baseball cap embroidered with the Virgin de Guadalupe (on sale in the Mission!) to sing "Minimum Wage," a socially conscious song with a Johnny Cash-like back beat executed with very un-Johnny Cash-like maracas.
