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Who is Suni Paz?
Suni Paz has recorded and has been published extensively. Singing in English and Spanish, she has performed her music, thrilling audiences of all ages on stage, radio, and television all over the world.
Among the myriad of concert halls she has graced are the famed Bottom Line in New York (sharing the stage with performers such as Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Don Maclean, Richie Havens, and the late folk icon Phil Ochs) and Madison Square Garden. She has been part of some of the most important folk music festivals of our time like the Clearwater Revival. Her unique songs inspire positive ideas, the strength of the human spirit, and a caring world view.
Suni Paz is an upbeat, energetic performer- full of love and life. Her songs have something to say to anyone looking for content, culture, or just pure joy. She uses folk music, children’s music and popular rhythms fromall of Latin America, as well as other parts of the globe, bringing a natural earth-bound warmth to any event.
She is involved in an ongoing collaboration with award-winning writers and poets Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy, setting their lyrics to music and recording them. Her expertise also encompasses voice-overs for radio and television, transcription of songs from English and French into Spanish, and advertising.
Now, Suni Paz, poet and writer, introduces herself to the public, completing”another turn of the merry-go-round that is my life” as she describes this moment.
For Organizations, Public Libraries, Schools, Teachers and Parents:
• Sharing the culture, art and power of music
• A friendly, natural approach to Spanish and English learning
• Children’s and adult literature and folklore
• Parental participation in education through music and instruments
• Recognized educator, M.A., B.A.
For the Workshop, or Classroom: Through Songs, Poems, Short Stories, Legends, Dances, Instruments and Games:
• Respect for traditions, cultural awareness, and reinforcing family bonding
• Inspiring creativity, and environmental concern
• Memorable hands-on musical experiences
• Building confidence, self-worth, decision-making, and responsibility
Conferences and Workshops:
NAFCC 2007 Conference, Anaheim, CA
NABE & CABE Conferences, Del Sol Books, presentations of new releases, San José & Texas, 2007
Art and Power of Music Workshop, Concert presentation, Borrego Hills, 2006
Keynote speaker Chicano Conference, San Diego, 2006
Recognition and Awards
Children’s Music Network, Magic Penny Award, 2003 The Children's Music Network bestows the Magic Penny Award on someone who has made an outstanding lifetime contribution to children's music.
Parents Choice Award, 2002
Services to LEP students, SUNY, Division of Bilingual Education, 1990
National Culture Through the Arts Award, N.Y. State Association of Foreign Language Teachers, 1987
Grant, Center for International Education, Fulbright, ATLAS, Tinker
Foundation, 1985 ASCAP Songwriter Award, annually, since 1985
National Federation of Local Cable TV Programmers, Madison, Wisconsin, 1979
Phi-Sigma-Iota Award, Foreign Languages, 1977
Noteworthy: Has performed, toured and recorded extensively over the years with noted New York cellist Martha Siegel and accomplished composer/arranger/flutist Wendy Blackstone.
Was member of the successful activist music and poetry group, El Grupo, which performed extensively on the east coast and Puerto Rico.
“Chile-Chile” theatre
production, accompanied by her son Ramiro Fauve,
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Extended Bio
Born into an extraordinarily talented Argentine creole-Italian-Catalonian 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, she moved to California with her two children. There, she designed curriculum for elementary schools presenting Latin American culture through songs, stories and dances. She took voice lessons, began her studies towards a BA in Sociology and Literature, re-married, 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 which has flourished. Ten years later, Suni completed an MA from Rutgers University and teaching credentials from New York City.
She chose her name, Suni which means “ever-lasting,” from the Quechua language, so as to be able to diseminate the rich indigenous cultures of the Americas in lyrics, rhythms, and instruments such as the charango, caja, and bombo. Paz is a last name that is found in every Latin American country. Its meaning is peace. To find inner peace and share it with others is Suni’s quest in life. To sing and play rhythms, creating a bridge between cultures, has been her trademark.
Out of need to have some themes addressed, 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 recorded her first record: Breaking Out of the Silence/Brotando del Silencio on Barbara Dane’s label . In the seventies, Moe Asch from Folkways Records requested three children’s albums: 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 a an auther, lyricist, singer, songwriter, recording artist, and performer of 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.
Suni writes her own songs whenever she needs to reinforce some idea, cultural or spiritual value. Currently, she is promoting her new Smithsonian Folkways CD “Bandera Mía” with a concert tour combining stirring folk songs from Argentina and her inspiring biographical stories.
She enjoys involving her sons in her recordings. Her eldest, Juan, plays keyboard on several of her albums. Her youngest, Ramiro Fauve, a singer-songwriter and outstanding artist continues to create music with her.
Look for one of her stories in the upcoming collection “The Spirit of a Woman... and the Power of Her Story,” by Terry Gopadze. Her poems will also soon appear in the book “La Inefable Locura de ser Poeta” with 20 poets from Los Angeles. Summer 2007, she’s recording a CD with Argentine poet and painter Rodolfo Spadano.
Peace-Paix-Paz
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