Here in 2009 we find Susana Baca enjoying the fruit of what is her second

career. Her mother, who believed nothing good would come from her daughter's

artistic talents, prompted Susana to be a teacher. For years Susana

satisfied both her mother's wishes as well as her own academic curiosity.

Yet music ultimately proved to be her true vocation, so she set course to

the United States to become a Jazz singer.

Released for U.S. consumption through the silent, uniquely powerful world music label Luaka Bop, Baca's

new album - Seis Poemas - is an expression of nature embodied in whispers of

ordinary life in Peru - an

ordinary life that can best be described in the form of poetry: "I went to

the plaza/ I bought some onions/ I bought tomatoes and parsley/ You don't

know/ Chinese girl, white, mulatta/ The worthless mess/ That I have here."

An ambassador of Afro-Peruvian culture, Baca holds a calling to make

apparent the beauty of a world 

forgotten. Seis Poemas reveals a world

of community and tradition; a

world of heartbreak and

triumph. Baca beckons our entry into the life of Chabuca Granda - her

predecessor - whose work set the stage for Baca's Grammy nomination in 2002.

Baca reaches into Granda's repertoire to unearth cadences that set the

selected works on fire. The result is an album that transcends all

languages, entering a realm of pure emotion.

Over the years Baca's work has become increasingly confident and personal,

garnering the necessary accolades to carve out her own space in music. Her

music is, at its essence, spiritual and respectful; key ingredients to the

longevity she has experienced in the music industry. Baca's ability to call

forth the smallest details of life is what breathes vibrancy into the lyrics

she sings. It is the recognition of this very same ability in the poets she

has chosen to interpret that gives the album its depth and substance. She

intimately connects to the poems in a fashion that is impossible to ignore.

It is as if she recognizes all too well the poet in herself. As Rainier

Maria Rilke writes in his Letters to a Young Poet:

"...draw near to nature. Then try like some first human being, to say what

you see and experience and love and lose. If your daily life seems poor, do

not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to

call forth its riches; for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor

indifferent place."

Imagine yourself sitting cross-legged on a plush green forest floor. Massive

tree trunks stretch triumphantly toward the morning sky, a sky which you can

hardly make out amidst all of the forestation playfully intertwining with

itself. At this point you find yourself content with life and its seemingly

omnipotent beauty. You close your eyes. Now imagine hearing the voice of

mother earth singing sweetly in your ear words of contentment, mingling with

your thoughts about the wonders of her creation. Listen closely. That voice

of mother earth in your mind's ear is probably that of Susana Baca.

-Carl Scott