Susana Baca first gained international recognition through her recording of "Maria Landó," a song by her mentor,
Chabuca Granda, in 1997. Here, she devotes a six-song EP to
Granda, mixing three more
Granda compositions, "El Bosque Armado (La Canoa)" (The Armed Forest [The Canoe]), "El Fusil del Poeta" (The Poet's Gun), and "Un Cuento Silencioso" (Silent Story), with three other songs in a similar folk-based style, including "Los Lagartos" (The Lizards), a poem by
Federico García Lorca, set to music by
Paco Ibáñez. Actually, all of the songs sound like poems set to music (as the title would suggest), with
Baca sometimes packing quite a few words into the tunes. She makes up for the enjambment with her passion, however, and her few accompanists offer effective support while mostly staying out of the way. (Apparently, the album package was printed before the track selections were finalized, because the fourth song, shown complete with an English translation of the lyrics, is said to be "Harawi." In fact, the fourth track is "Venadito de los Montes" [Mountain Deer], with words by Mario Florián and music by Juan Luis Pereyra Del Mar, who accompanies
Baca on charango and mandolin.) ~ William Ruhlmann