For most of my adult life I have been in love with Afro-latin music and dance.  I fell in love with the beautiful music of Susana Baca, her angelic voice filling the rooms of my homes wherever in the world I’ve roamed.  Her voice is like butter and her interpretation of the poetry and beautiful songs of Latin America, especially  the music of Afro-latinos, deep and penetrating.   I will never forget the times I’ve been blessed to see her channeling live on stage, and when my daughter ran away from her at a show because she wanted her to dance with her in front of the crowd, lol.

Many people don’t realize that despite the majority native South American and mestizo population of South America, there is a huge population of Afro-Latinos, some having come from Brazil in particular, as escaped slaves and some said to be indigenous to the region.  I have been fascinated with the amazing music and dance of these folks.  From Venezuela, Columbia, even in Ecuador and Peru, you find dark skinned folks, oftentimes living in out of the way locales, where they’ve been able to maintain peaceful quiet existences for generations.

Here is some typical type of Afro meets the Andes music from Peru…

And here is beautiful Susana Baca. ..