Suni Paz


Suni Paz is an Argentinian singer, songwriter, guitarist, poet, folklorist, translator, and teacher, who has recorded and has been published extensively. Suni is part of the progressive Latin American music movement known as nueva canción.
Best known in the United States as a performing artist and prolific songwriter, Suni Paz has been presenting Latin American culture to audiences of all ages for more than thirty years. In addition to eight CDs on the Smithsonian Folkways label, she has recorded more than four hundred songs for children and performed on the world stage alongside American icons that included Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Guy Carawan and Phil Ochs.
On June 23, 2020, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded Suni Paz a National Heritage Fellowship, the Nation’s Highest Honor in the Folk and Traditional Arts.. The NEA describes Suni as "One of the first artists to bring the nueva canción tradition—the “new song” music of the 1960s and 1970s—to North American audiences, Paz’s work as an American songwriter and performer of Latin American folk music has resonated as a cultural force engaging people of all backgrounds and ages."

Biography

Born into a talented Argentine Italian-Catalan family of writers, musicians, linguists and poets, Suni Paz started playing the guitar, writing songs, singing in choirs, and at family parties at age 12. From 1960 to 1963 she lived in Chile. From 1963 to 1965 she raised her two children alone, making a living by writing and singing advertising jingles for various companies and becoming a copywriter trainee for McCann Erickson-Chile.
In 1967, Suni moved to California with her two children. There, she designed curriculum for elementary schools presenting Latin American culture through songs, stories and dances. She studied voice, began her studies towards a BA in Sociology and Literature, remarried, got a school district permit to perform in the schools in Los Angeles and Oakland, and thus began her teaching and singing career in the United States.
Influenced by the nueva canción movement, Paz began writing songs in folk styles with lyrics that addressed the poverty and inequality in Latin America.
In 1977, Suni completed an MA from Rutgers University and a teaching credential, and taught in New York City. Suni has two sons whom she enjoys involving in her recordings. Her eldest, Juan, played keyboard on several of her albums. Her youngest, Ramiro Fauve, a singer-songwriter and outstanding artist continues to create music with her. Suni currently splits time between Nevada and Los Angeles, California.

Suni's Name and Mission

Suni Paz chose the name "Suni" because it means "ever-lasting" in the Quechua language. "Paz" which means "peace" is a last name found in every Latin American country. To find inner peace and share it with others is Suni's quest in life. Suni's mission is use her singing and playing to disseminate the rich cultures of the Americas through the lyrics, rhythms, and indigenous instruments such as the charango, caja, and bombo, thereby building a bridge between cultures.

Creative Works

Suni began writing her own lyrics and setting to music some of her concerns in order to give a voice to the silent and forgotten ones. She has sung in communities, schools, at rallies and marches, and later at colleges, universities, and festivals in the United States, Latin America and Europe.
In the sixties, having settled in New York, Suni began recording. Her first album, Breaking Out of the Silence/Brotando del Silencio was released on 1973 on Paredon Records, a label founded by Irwin Silber and Barbara Dane to present social protest music. In 1977, Paz recorded her first album with Folkways Records, Entre Hermanas: Between Sisters-Women's Songs Sung in Spanish, widening the implications of the women's movement beyond middle- and upper-class Americans.
In the late seventies, Moe Asch from Folkways Records commissioned three children's albums including Alerta, Children Songs for the Playground and From the Sky of my Childhood which Suni recorded accompanied by noted cellist Martha Siegel. The three albums solidified Suni's voice as a singer-songwriter of children's songs. The albums became pivotal in Suni's career as an educator and a musician using songs to teach about all subjects and about life.
In 1984, Suni met Dr. Alma Flor Ada, a renowned writer and poet of children's stories, living and working in San Francisco. Dr. Ada was interested in having her lyrics set to music and recorded by Suni. Together with Vivi Escrivá, a magnificent illustrator living in Spain, Alma Flor Ada’s lyrics and Suni's music, a trio of creativity across two continents became established. In 1997, Suni met poet and writer Francisca Isabel Campoy who writes children's books on Latin America and Spain with Dr. Alma Flor Ada. The trio became a quartet. Suni then began writing music, recording and performing Ada's and Campoy's lyrics and stories which they now present together in conferences on education in USA and Latin America. Thus, Suni Paz continues today with her career as an author, lyricist, singer, songwriter, recording artist, and performer of folklore and children's songs. She has just published her own collection of short stories and anecdotes about growing up in Argentina and has an upcoming release about her life in Chile.
In 2003, The Children's Music Network bestowed the Magic Penny Award on Suni Paz, for her outstanding lifetime contribution to children's music.
In 2007 Suni recorded a new Smithsonian Folkways CD Bandera Mía featuring stirring folk songs from Argentina.
Also in 2007 Suni published a collection of autobiographical stories in English and Spanish entitled Sparkles & Shadows - from Innocence to Wisdom published by Del Sol Books.
In 2008 Suni Paz was featured in Worlds of Sound: The Story of Smithsonian Folkways, by Richard Carlin.

Concerts

On June 9,1975, Suni performed at a benefit for Singout Magazine at The Bottom Line, sharing the stage with Don Mclean, Abby Newton, Louisiana Red, Phil Ochs, Charley Sales, Leon Rossebson, Sara Cleveland and the Red Clay Ramblers.

Discography

Cantos de Las Posadas and Other Christmas Songs , 1963, Folkways Records
Brotando del Silencio - Breaking Out of the Silence, 1973, Paredon Records
Entre Hermanas: Between Sisters: Women's Songs in Spanish Sung by Suni Paz, 1977, Folkways Records
From the Sky of My Childhood / Del Cielo de Mi Ninez - Folk Songs from Latin America sung by Suni Paz, 1979, Folkways Records
Earth and Ocean Songs: Canciones del Mar y de la Tierra, 1982, Folkways Records
Hagamos Camimos: Andamos Student, 1986, Addison-Wesley
Brotes Sobre el Papel: Buds on Paper, 1987, Suni Paz
La Pajara Pinta, 1988, Santillana Publishing
Manana es Domingo, 1988, Santillana Publishing
Estaba la Pastora, 1988, Santillana Publishing
Las Semillas Magicas, 1988, Santillana Publishing
La Bella Durmiente, 1988, Santillana Publishing
La cenicienta, 1988, Santillana Publishing
Caperucita Roja, 1988, Santillana Publishing
Blancanieves, 1988, Santillana Publishing
Alerta Sings and Songs for the Playground/ Canciones Para el Recreo, 1989, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Aprender Cantando, 1990, Alma Flor Ada-Suni Paz
Songs in Spanish, 1992, Sanctuary Wooks-Scholastic
Amigos, 1994, Rei American
El Viejo Abuelo, 1995, Scholastic
Musica Matematica, 1995, Scholastic
Cantando con Suni Paz, 1995, Scholastic
Abecedario de los Animales, 1996, Alma Flor Ada-Suni Paz
Waves, 1996, Mimosa
Como Una Flor, 1996, Alma Flor Ada-Suni Paz
Cielo Abierto , 1996, Harcourt-Brace
Cuentos Cantados , 1997, Mimosa
Gathering the Sun, 1997, Alma Flor Ada-Suni Paz
Canciones Para el Recreo: Children's Songs for the Playground, 1998, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Smithsonian Folkways Children's Collection, 1998, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Alerta Sings and Songs for the Playground/ Canciones Para el Recreo, 2000, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Raíces Latinas: Smithsonian Folkways Latino Roots Collection, 2002, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Bandera Mía: Songs of Argentina, 2007, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Tú eres mi flor: Songs for Children en Español: Elizabeth Mitchell and Suni Paz, 2018, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings