Lhasa de Sela - La Llorona (Acoustic Live)

Lhasa de Sela - La Llorona (Acoustic Live)

(Written By: Traditional)

Lhasa de Sela (1972 – January 1, 2010), also known by the mononym Lhasa, was an American-born singer-songwriter who was raised in Mexico and the United States, and divided her adult life between Canada and France. Her first album, La Llorona, went platinum in Canada and brought Lhasa a Félix Award and a Juno Award. Following this success, Lhasa toured with Lilith Fair, then joined her sisters in a French circus troupe, contributing her husky voice to the musical backdrop. She lived in Marseille and began to write more songs, then moved back to Montreal and produced a second album, The Living Road. Once again, she toured in support of her album, and she collaborated with other musicians on their projects. During this time, BBC Radio 3 honored her as the best world music artist of the Americas in 2005. She published a book about her impressions of life on the road. Lhasa recorded a third album, titled Lhasa, but she was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 around the time it was released. After 21 months of treatment, she died on New Year's Day 2010. A memorial program of her music was produced in January 2012, performed in Montreal by artists who had worked with her. Following a 21-month-long battle with breast cancer, Lhasa died, age 37, on the evening of January 1, 2010, at her home in Montreal.

«La Llorona» (lit. «The weeping woman») is a Mexican folk song derived from the legend of La Llorona. There are many versions of the song. Its origins are obscure, but composer Andres Henestrosa in about 1941 mentioned hearing the song in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. He popularized the song and may have added to the existing verses. The legend of La Llorona is often conflated with La Malinche, the Nahua Princess and consort of Hernan Cortes, the conquistador of the Aztec Empire in Mexico. The La Llorona of the song drowned her children in a river in a rage at her unfaithful husband. As a spirit, she was condemned to wander the shores of the river forever searching for her dead children. In Latin America the song is associated with the Day of the Dead. One popular interpretation of the song is of the singer feeling trapped by a woman (La Llorona) who has fallen in love with him. If he even thinks about leaving her, she weeps. He tries everything in his power to leave her, but he is trapped by pity for the woman. He wishes to be taken down to the river to be drowned, and so then his suffering can finally end. The suffering that the man goes through from being trapped in a relationship with the woman in a way parallels the suffering that the woman in the legend goes through from having her lover leave her. Another interpretation following the lyrics is that the «llorona» represents the singer's deceased or abandoned spouse which would explain the morbid references throughout the song and why the lover never seems to actually try to reach her. Examples include «duelo» (mourning), and «campo santo» (cemetery). The Llorona is traditionally a Banshee-like folk ghost that haunts her lover after having drowned her children, and who now cries for her dead children. She foretells death to those who see it. There are many variations to the verses of the song that have been adapted for different audiences throughout the years. The song is not considered a love song because of its overall sad tones and has been used for Día de Muertos festivities. Folklorists of Mesoamerica theorize that La Llorona represents a survival of the basic Mesoamerican myth called, «Why the Earth Eats the Dead». «La Llorona» falls under the genre of Mexican folklore and ranchera because of its origins as a legend and its heavy use of the guitar, respectively.

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