Suni Paz

Suni Paz works as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and educator, focusing on children’s material performed in Spanish and English while drawing from indigenous folk traditions across the Americas. She selected the Quechua term Suni, signifying “lasting” and rooted in the Andean portion of South America, paired with the Spanish word Paz for “peace.” Recording activity began for her in the 1960s on Barbara Dane’s label, followed by multiple Folkways releases throughout the 1970s. Collaboration with lyricist Alma Flor Ada dates from the mid-1980s onward, and in 1997 she extended her work to lyricist and poet Isabel Francisco Campoy, whose children’s books on Latin America and Spain were produced jointly with Ada. Together, Paz, Ada, and Campoy deliver their songs and narratives at educational conferences across the United States and Latin America, while Paz additionally performs directly for young audiences in classrooms and other public venues. The 2006 album Bandera Mía: Songs of Argentina appeared as her set of traditional and newly composed pieces honoring the music of her native country.