The President-elect of Peru, Ollanta Humala, has announced the singer Susana Baca as his new Minister for Culture, reports the Guardian. Baca (pictured) will be the first black government minister since in Peru since the country gained its independence from Spain in 1821.

Baca, born in the coastal village Chorrillos in 1944, won a Grammy Award for her 2001 album Lamento Negro. Together with her husband, she founded the Instituto Negrocontinuo, which promotes and documents Afro-Peruvian culture, music and dance.

The singer’s latest album is Afrodiaspora, which charts the African influence on South and Central American music. In reference to this Album, Baca writes of Peruvian culture as being, ‘a mixture of Spanish, Indian and African cultures’.

www.susanabaca.com