BIOGRAPHY
Luis Perez
Luis Perez was born in Mexico City and has spent his life studying pre-Columbian instruments and the living music traditions of Mexico. He composes by combining pre-Hispanic instruments with electronics. His 1981 solo release, Ipan in Xiktli Metxli (In the Navel of the Moon), established him as a forerunner in the field. In 1982, he was invited to participate in the first Symposium of Mexican Music organized by UCLA’s Dept. of Musicology, and he has lectured there yearly on Mesoamerican music. He was commissioned by Mexico’s Ministry of Education to compose for Programa de Castellanizacion, the national program to teach Spanish to indigenous groups. He has toured the American continent, collaborating with artists Jackson Browne, Andreas Vollenweider, Ian Underwood, Kitaro and Jon Anderson; composers James Horner and Hans Zimmer; and companies Cirque du Soleil and DreamWorks. His first North American solo CD, Tales of Astral Travelers, was released in 1998, and he won the California Arts Council’s Fellowship Award in 2000 for Sanctuary of Butterflies. In addition, Perez has worked on the Genesis Award-winning documentaries Pipe Dreams: Oil vs. Arctic Wildlife Refuge, Death of a Thousand Wolves, Coyote Walking, Wild Horses: Homeless on the Range, Hogs: Factories Calling Corp. Injustice and Elephant Abuse.