Susana Esther Baca de la Colina

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Susana Esther Baca de la Colina
Ethnomusicologist
(1944 - )
Peru

It is not unusual for Susana Baca concert goers to witness the singer-songwriter, schoolteacher, folklorist, ethnomusicologist, and three-time Latin Grammy Award winner perform shoeless. The trail blazer and keeper of the culture has also been a key figure in the revival of Afro-Peruvian music.

Over the decades, Baca traversed Peru, recording in rural areas to gather material from elderly singers with many of the songs having roots in enslaved communities. She and Richard Pereira, her husband, founded the Center for Black Continuum, an organization dedicated to promoting Black music and dance. In July 2011, when Baca became Minister of Culture, she became the second Afro-Peruvian cabinet minister in the history of independent Peru.

“I photographed and met Susana Baca several times including at the 2013 Panama Jazz Festival. I also photographed her in Washington, D.C. and in her home in Peru. From our conversations, we created a friendship and my knowing something about her. When I took this picture, I felt using color film would be a distraction from the viewer also getting to know her. With color gone, the image is purely about you looking into her eyes and making a connection with Ms. Baca.”

- Photographer Jonathan B. French

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