DISCOVERY OF A LIFETIME; PERUVIAN SINGER SUSANA BACA FOUND HER VOICE IN AFRICAN ROOTS.

Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Music Writer

The Spanish word recuperar means to recover the past, to rescue from the ravages of time. It means to bring back together that which has drifted apart and it also carries a meaning of healing and getting better.

All of these concepts describe the life and work of Susana Baca, a Peruvian singer of African descent born in the coastal barrio of Chorrillos, outside Lima, and now an international concert draw thanks to ex-Talking Heads leader David Byrne.

Using guitar, bass, pan pipes and Afro-Peruvian percussion, the languid-voiced Baca collaborates with contemporary folk poets to make beautiful, complex music that seems both modern and ageless.

Baca was almost completely unknown outside Peru when Byrne tracked her down in the mid-'90s. She made her North American debut on ``Afro-Peruvian Classics: The Soul of Black Peru,'' a 1995 compilation conceived by Byrne for his Luaka Bop world-music label that showcases 25 years of Afro-Peruvian sounds, opening with Baca's haunting traditional piece ``Maria Lando.''

Baca appears Sunday along with Zimbabwe's Stella Chiweshe and Tex-Mex folk chanteuse Tish Hinojosa under the ``Global Divas'' banner at UCLA's Wadsworth Theater.

Baca grew up surrounded by music that reflected Spanish, Andean-Indian and her own African traditions. But her country denied its African past.

``Afro-Peruvian music was always around, but it was never in the history books,'' Baca said through a translator this week. ``It was hard to learn about.''

Unlike other new world African enclaves such as Cuba or Haiti, Afro-Peruvians cannot trace their origins to particular African cultures.

``There was never any real record of where in Africa the slaves that were brought to Peru came from,'' Baca said. ``A lot of it was done illegally. If there were records, often they were wrong. So, we're basically like African-Americans. We're a mix.''

Her folks' tradition

Baca picked up songs from her aunt, who sang in the style of Aretha Franklin, and plucked her father's guitar. Teachers encouraged her to sing, but a music career was discouraged.

``In the '60s, it wasn't considered quite right for a woman to be on stage,'' Baca, 54, said. ``It wasn't considered respectable. Women were supposed to stay at home.''

Baca's parents insisted she become a teacher and while she remained in school, she researched her Afro-Peruvian heritage, unearthing fragments of folk songs and exploring the memories of relatives and strangers.

``I started with my family,'' she explained. ``I interviewed them and recorded everything, including all the songs they remembered. I also used to walk along the shore with a tape recorder and interview people, especially elderly people who still remembered a lot of these songs.''

She eventually started a group that blended contemporary poetry with the traditional music she collected.

In 1971, Baca debuted on Peru's national stage, winning the prize for best interpreter of song in an international contest.

With her husband, Ricardo Pereira, Baca founded the Center for the Black Continuum, a Lima institute dedicated to developing Afro-Peruvian music and dance. The center also houses an archive of materials, including recordings, letters, poetry and books.

``It's a music school where musicians can go and study everything from popular music to the more arcane styles,'' Baca said. ``At the same time, there are scholarships. Half our 40 students are on scholarship. We're doing this for people who want to play and sing. They can go and learn all the techniques. The idea is to promote and make people aware of Afro-Peruvian music.''

Past and present

Baca's just-released self-titled solo album for Byrne's Luaka Bop has received glowing reviews. She will be backed Sunday by a guitarist, two percussionists and a bass player.

``These songs are very beautiful,'' she said. ``They're laments and they tell a lot of history, but I don't want to sing only those songs. I'm a woman of now, also. I don't want to be known only as an ethnic singer. I am a black woman. Those are my roots and I acknowledge them. But there's this other side, this modern side as well.''

Before she was discovered by Byrne, Peru's major labels refused to sign Baca because of her non-mainstream musical style and highly impressionistic lyrics, which they thought would not sell. So, Baca and her husband started a label and issued eight albums.

``Now, they look at David Byrne and say, `Oh God, how did he make it happen?' '' Baca said with a light laugh. `` `How did he make Susana Baca known throughout the world?' ''

THE FACTS

Who: ``Global Divas,'' featuring Susana Baca, Stella Chiweshe and Tish Hinojosa.

Where: Wadsworth Theater, 226 Eisenhower Ave., Brentwood.

When: 7 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: $22 and $25.

Information: [phone].

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Photo

Photo: Susana Baca says of her heritage: ``There was never any real record of where in Africa the slaves that were brought to Peru came from ... So, we're basically like African-Americans. We're a mix.''