Hip Deep August 21, 2025
The Music of Black Peru: Cultural Identity in the Black Pacific
This Hip Deep edition explores the sonically vibrant realm of Afro-Peruvian music, a young genre identification that has flourished since the 1950s and has now produced artists of international renown, such as singer Susana Baca, and the black folkloric company Peru Negro.
<p>The "Black Pacific" is a term coined by our guide,
ethnomusicologist Heidi Carolyn Feldman. She describes the circumstance
of African descendants displaced not only from their ancestral homes in
Africa, but also from the Atlantic coast nations where their enslaved
ancestors were originally brought.</p>
<p>This Hip Deep edition explores
the sonically vibrant realm of Afro-Peruvian music, a young genre
identification that has flourished since the 1950s and has now produced
artists of international renown, such as singer Susana Baca, and the
black folkloric company Peru Negro.</p>
<p>The music is sensuous and
deeply beautiful, and represents a fascinating and little-understood
history. We will hear from Juan Morillo, who represents Peru Negro, from
Susana Baca, and from other artists and community scholars Feldman has
worked with during her extensive research of this topic.</p>
<p>Produced by Simon Rentner and Wills Glasspiegel<br>APWW <a href="https://soundcloud.com/tags/558">#558</a></p>
Related Articles
Review August 17, 2011
Interview: Heidi Feldman, Afro-Peruvian Feature Story
Blog August 17, 2011
Scholar: Heidi Feldman
Blog August 17, 2011
