One of the musicians displaced in New Orleans last month had only moved there a month ago . . . but musician Susana Baca has experience recovering traditions that are almost lost. By Sylvia Maria Gross
Kansas City, MO – South American musician Susana Baca has made her career recovering and recording songs that reflect Peru?s African heritage. International audiences got to know her music when David Byrne, formerly of the Talking Heads, included her on an album called ?The Soul of Black Peru? in 1995. In August, Baca moved to New Orleans to learn how the city has preserved its African American music and culture. But Hurricane Katrina threatened to wash away not only her project, but some of those very traditions and institutions. Baca is now regrouping in Chicago ? and gave a lecture in Afro-Peruvian music in Lawrence last week. As Sylvia Maria Gross reports, Baca specializes in documenting a history that was almost lost . . .
Peruvian singer Susana Baca has three albums on the Luaka Bop world music label. She has a fourth album coming out in February.