Known world-wide as the voice of the Afro-Peruvian community, the 74-year-old Baca won a Latin Grammy in 2002 for the album Lamento Negro, which she recorded nearly two decades earlier in Cuba. Baca’s most recent recording “Afrodiaspora” is a song cycle comprised of the various rhythms that the African diaspora is responsible for in places across the globe. Of her new release, music critic Jim Fusilli of the Wall Street Journal comments, “Susana Baca delivers what is likely the sweetest and most appealing lesson in ethnomusicology we’ll ever enjoy.”

Baca has been an outspoken advocate for the Afro-Peruvian community for decades. In 1987, she was named Cultural Ambassador of Goodwill for UNICEF Peru. She has served as a director and supporter of non-profit cultural organizations, including her own Black Continuum Institute in the town of Chorrillo. The center’s mission is to foster the collection, preservation, and creation of Afro-Peruvian culture, music, and dance.