Internationally known singer-poet-intellectual Susana Baca to present her work on Afro-Peruvian music

	Photo: Susana Baca

What/Who: Renowned Afro-Peruvian singer Susana Baca will present findings from her research on black music and dance in “A Trajectory of Poetry in Afro-Peruvian Music.” She will also read and sing some of her own poems.

When: Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 4:30 p.m.

Where: International House, 1414 E. 59th St., at the University of Chicago.

Background: Baca and her sociologist/manager husband Ricardo Pereira established the Instituto Negrocontinuo (the Black Continuum Institute) in 1992. The institute aims to preserve and celebrate Peru’s black heritage, and has been credited with facilitating the resurgent interest in Afro-Peruvian music. Baca herself is best known for her song “Maria Lando,” included on David Byrne’s 1995 compilation, The Soul of Black Peru. She won a 2002 Latin Grammy Award for her album Poesia y cantos negros.

The University of Chicago provided an affiliation for Baca through the Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of Music when she found herself a victim of Hurricane Katrina and her research plans at Tulane University became impossible. Here she has been researching jazz through the University’s acclaimed Jazz Archive in the Joseph Regenstein Library.