Susana Baca (Luaka Bop) (star) (star) (star) 1/2
Susana Baca is probably one of the most sensational singers ever to emerge from Peru. But until David Byrne heard her and put her on “The Soul of Black Peru” in 1995, Baca — a mixed-race woman with a rich, husky voice — had never had a commercial record release. Why this is so probably could fill a dissertation on race relations in Latin America. Accompanied primarily by guitar and cajon (a uniquely Peruvian percussion instrument that has become popular in Cuba and other countries in the last 25 years), Baca provides the voice on these songs of melancholia, faith and hope. Like the “The Soul of Black Peru,” the music here is not what’s usually associated with tropical sounds: While danceable, it is sparser, often more Brazilian than Caribbean, with an emphasis on the words that’s rare in most rhythmic Latin American music.
