Lourdes Perez has ascended rapidly among the leading figures in Puerto Rican-American music through her richly soulful voice and lyrical guitar work. Honored as Songwriter of the Year by the Clarksville Jazz Poll in 1996, she sustains widespread recognition for the depth of feeling in her live appearances. The Vancouver Courier characterized her “honey-coated contralto that transcends language, lending an unwavering authenticity to her music reminiscent of legendary French chanteuse Edith Piaf,” whereas the New York Times commended her “using her gutsy declamation to reminisce over lost love and to praise women's power to nurture life.” The Austin American Statesman observed that, with her “smoky, spiraling alto -- like Edith Piaf fronting the Gypsy Kings -- Perez sings of her people with a supreme sense of humanity that enlarges them to signify all people.”
Perez taught herself both singing and guitar at age eleven, drawing early influence from nueva canción artists Sylvio Rodriguez, Atahualpa Yupangui, and Violete Parra. She departed Puerto Rico in 1983 and established residence in Austin, Texas, five years afterward. Although passionate about music and plainly gifted, she postponed any professional pursuit until 1993. Within half a year she ranked among Austin’s most promising emerging artists, receiving a nomination for Best World Music at the Austin Chronicle Music Awards and finishing second for Best New Act in the Music City Texas poll.
Her 1993 self-titled five-song EP contained the original composition “Si Me Muero Manana,” which earned Best Foreign Language Song in the Austin Songwriters Group Competition. The following spring she issued her debut album, Recuerdate Por Mi, voted the top independent release in the Music City Texas Poll and placed fifth in the Austin Chronicle’s Critics’ Poll. She next released the twenty-minute cassette Homenaje a Mercedes Sosa, devoted to her readings of songs by the Argentinean songwriter. Her second full-length album, Vestigos, appeared in 1997.
An initial career breakthrough arrived when Perez was selected to open Mercedes Sosa’s November 16, 1995 concert at Symphony Hall in Boston. She reached wider audiences in 1998 by joining the Indigo Girls for the twelve-city, multi-artist Suffragette Sessions tour; during those shows Amy Ray and Emily Salier accompanied her Spanish-language material, and Perez supplied Spanish versions of the Indigo Girls’ songs. She has also shared duets with Tish Hinojosa and Jane Siberry. Since 1995 Peruvian violinist Javier Chaparro has performed alongside her, later joined by pianist Kay Sparks and cellist Margaret Coltman Smith to enrich the ensemble texture.
Perez sustains an intensive performance and composition schedule. In 2000 she wrote and performed the scores for Sharir and Bustamante Danceworks’ The Leaf Storm, Root Wy'mn Theater Company’s Con Flama, and Jen Tsai’s short film When. She has voiced public opposition to U.S. military bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.
