Suni Paz

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, and educator Suni Paz specializes in performing and recording children's songs in both Spanish and English, drawing upon indigenous folk styles from all over the Americas. Choosing her name, Suni, meaning "lasting," from the Quechua language (spoken in the Andean region of South America), while Paz came from the Spanish for "peace," she began recording in the 1960s on Barbara Dane's label, and did several albums for Folkways in the 1970s. Since the mid-'80s, she has collaborated with lyricist Alma Flor Ada, and in 1997 also began working with lyricist/poet Isabel Francisco Campoy, who wrote children's books on Latin America and Spain with Ada. Paz, Ada, and Campoy present their music and stories at conferences on education throughout the United States and Latin America, and Paz also sings for children at classrooms and other public spaces. In 2006, she released Bandera Mía: Songs of Argentina, a collection of traditional and original songs, to pay tribute to the music of her homeland.