Susana Baca in Concert at UVA
** An Affiliated Event
Susana Baca in Concert at UVA Presented by the UVA Library
Long before Susana Baca became one of international music’s essential stars, she ranked as one of the most important figures in the Afro-Peruvian revival. Overcoming the cultural stigma surrounding women performers, not to mention the lowly status of black music in Peru, Baca forged an extraordinary career. In 1995, David Byrne included her heartrending rendition of “María Lando” on his compilation Soul of Black Peru, bringing her music to a global audience; she has since released six albums on Byrne’s Luaka Bop label. The founder of a museum and cultural center celebrating Afro-Peruvian traditions, Baca made history in 2011 when she was appointed Peru’s first black female minister of culture.
When Baca was a student in Chorrillos, in Lima, she began a lifelong journey as an ethnomusicologist, collecting and performing a vast repertoire of songs at the cultural crossroads of Africa, the Andes, and Spain. She takes “unique musical forms like the halting lando and lively festejo into the twenty-first century without diluting their essence,” declares the BBC. As she approaches the fifth decade of her career, Baca is renowned as much for her songs as for her graceful and commanding stage presence: surrounded by a band playing traditional Peruvian instruments, Baca dances barefoot as she sings.
SUSANA BACA is a two-time winner of the coveted Latin American Grammy Award, for the Best Folk Album for Lamento Negro in 2002 and again for her participation in the Latin-American super group Los Super Seven which included Mexican stars from Los Lobos and the Brazilian legend Caetano Veloso. She introduced Afro-Peruvian music to the world. The musical legacy of the Africans who created communities along the Peruvian coast is her passion. Her whole life has been dedicated to celebrating her African heritage, keeping the irresistible rhythms of her ancestors alive.
SUSANA BACA is a two-time winner of the coveted Latin American Grammy Award, for the Best Folk Album for Lamento Negro in 2002 and again for her participation in the Latin-American super group Los Super Seven which included Mexican stars from Los Lobos and the Brazilian legend Caetano Veloso. She introduced Afro-Peruvian music to the world. The musical legacy of the Africans who created communities along the Peruvian coast is her passion. Her whole life has been dedicated to celebrating her African heritage, keeping the irresistible rhythms of her ancestors alive.
Two tickets maximum per person. Reserve Tickets Online: https://tickets.artsboxoffice.virginia.edu/ OR, Pick up at the Arts Box Office in Culbreth Theater from Monday to Friday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. (434-924-3376)
Event organized by
UVA Library
Co-Sponsors to date
Office of African-American Affairs
UVA Arts & the Office of the Provost & the Vice Provost for the Arts
Office of the Dean for Arts & Humanities
McIntire Department of Music
McIntire Department of Art
Arts Administration Grant
Department of Drama
Department of Women, Gender & Sexuality
Department of African American and African Studies
Carter G. Woodson Institute of African American and African Studies
Americas Center/Centro de las Américas
Latin American Studies
Center for Global Inquiry & Innovation
Global Health
Charlottesville Jazz Society
Hampton Inn on West Main