"Guillermina"

Few have accomplished what Susana Baca has for any homeland, let alone Peru.  A tireless ambassador of culture and community, she also holds one of the music world’s most recognizable and calming voices.  But her talent is almost secondary to the work she has done to revive lost culture, especially in and around Santa Barbara. The founder of Centro Experimental de Musica Negrocontinuo (Institute of the Black Continuum), Baca has preserved Peruvian folk arts for future generations, work she continues on Travesías. 

Now many people don’t believe in irony, and we could hardly expect Baca to.  The record preceding Travesías, the sonically arresting Espiritu Vivo, was set to begin recording in New York City on Sept 11, 2001. She continued sessions that week and created a heartbreaking, stunning release filled with all the passion one would imagine. Returning to the States for Travesías after a fellowship in the Congo (connecting the dots of the African heritage to her Muse), Baca settled into New Orleans to begin another fellowship there. Three weeks before Katrina. Hence, these sessions wrapped up in upstate New York.  Baca is currently in residence at the University of Chicago. 

Considering all her globetrotting, one might expect a fusion of forms in her work.  Instead, Travesías is filled with the sounds of Peru; those elements arise even when she sings in Spanish, French, Italian and English. It is a brilliantly quiet record, much as her earlier work. She has an amazing capability at swerving between refined joy, as on the cajon-filled “Guillermina,” to the sadly beautiful, like “Una Copla me ha Cantado.” The guitar playing is equally tremendous, truly matching Baca¹s voice in magnitude and dexterity. 

Her collaborators—Marc Ribot, Sergio Valdeos and Juan Medrano Cotito—are old friends by now, and the quartet moves through these dozen songs with ease and fluidity. Flourishes of flamenco arise (“Merci Bon Dieu” but one shining example) as the predominantly acoustic effort keeps it intimate.  The slightly electrified guitar on “Né Quelque Part,” however, adds great dimension.  Like her previous cover of Bjork’s “Anchor Song,” this track proves to be Travesías’s most unique. Besides mastery of pitch and rhythm, what this band provides is true knowledge of space. That is, their silence is as poignant as the sound they create, which is why Baca’s voice is so memorable. So much is said with her whispers; one listen to “Viento del Olvido” is instant certification. While the deeper layers of Baca’s cultural mission comes through over time, you can hear every bit of Peruvian soul immediately. And this is a talent reserved for a very few.

Contributed by: Derek Beres for www.afropop.org