Renowned as "The Queen of the Lando," Ayllon sells out 30,000-seat arenas and has made more than 20 albums.

In the United States, Ayllon came to the attention of world music enthusiasts in 1995. She was one of more than a dozen Afro-Peruvian artists who appeared on "Afro-Peruvian Classics: The Soul of Black Peru," a compilation disc put together by former Talking Head David Byrne, who's also a global music impresario, and released on his Luaka Bop label.

But outside of those niche musical circles, the 48-year-old singer and her sultry style are relatively unknown. One of the problems, she says, is that many listeners in the United States clump Peruvian music into one simplistic category. They don't grasp the depth and complexity of the country's music.

"A lot of people here in the United States still think Peruvians are Andean and that they all play panpipes and wear ponchos and play the melancholic music," Ayllon says through a translator during a recent phone interview. "They don't know that there's a wonderful black culture in Peru that's full of energy and vibrant and different. I hope that tide turns little by little."

Ayllon has a shot at advancing that musical agenda on Sunday when she performs at UCLA's Royce Hall. She's in the midst of a nationwide tour to promote her first U.S. produced disc, "Eva! Leyenda Peruana (Eva! The Peruvian Legend)." Her previous releases were made in Peru and only available in the U.S. as imports.

Ayllon calls the CD a letter of introduction to the United States, and it makes a great first impression. Blending landos , festejos (a celebratory song and dance in a fast 6/8 rhythm pattern) and vals (Peruvian waltzes), Ayllon delves into the shadows of the past to recover shimming melodies and seductive rhythms.

African slaves were brought to Peru in the 16th century to work in the Andes' gold and silver mines and eventually large sugar plantations on the coast. The slaves were from small, geographically diverse ethnic groups, and without a common language or tribal authority to remind them of their roots, Peruvian slaves were progressively integrated into the culture and language of their new country. As a result, Afro-Peruvian music is a unique blend of Spanish, Andean and African traditions.

In her forthcoming book, "Black Rhythms of Peru: Staging Cultural Memory Through Music and Dance," author Heidi Feldman details Peru's rich history.

"The world of Afro-Peruvian music was once hidden and tucked away only in the coastal barrios of Peru. This entrancing amalgam of Afro-Caribbean beat, flamenco flash and Spanish poetry evolved over 200 years, but until the late 1950s had faded from national collective memory practiced by only a few older blacks in private gatherings," she writes. "During the 1950s-70s, community-based artists and scholars in an Afro-Peruvian revival re-created the African elements, music and rhythms of Black Peru and helped spur a cultural renaissance there."

At the moment, however, Ayllon has her sights set on winning over U.S. audiences.

"I've been taking this music around the world for 30 years. Wherever I take it, lots of people enjoy it and dance to it. The music is meant to help with the healing process, and to bring joy and happiness to people," Ayllon says from her hotel in Dallas, one of her tour stops. "I'm looking for those same reactions here in the United States. I'm not going to stop doing what I'm doing until every American has heard these songs."

Ayllon was born Maria Angelica Ayllon Urbina in Lima, Peru. She adopted the name Eva after her maternal grandmother who began teaching her how to sing when Ayllon was 3 years old.

"The only support I had in my family was from my grandmother," Ayllon says. "It's only been in the last 20 years that my parents have accepted me as a singer. My parents always said an artist's life is a Bohemian lifestyle and involves drugs and liquor. They didn't want that for me. They wanted me to be a nurse."

Eventually, Ayllon was singing at school, youth competitions and later on television and radio. From 1973 to 1975, Ayllon was the lead vocalist in the popular trio Los Kipus, eventually leaving to pursue a solo career.

In 2003, Ayllon represented Peru at the Kennedy Center's AmericArtes Festival Celebrating the arts of Latin America.

Away from music, Ayllon recently married her Peruvian-American boyfriend of more than 15 years and plans on moving to his New York-area home by the end of the year. Ayllon wants to open a New York music academy where she can teach Peruvian song and dance.

She also is brushing up on her English.

"Now that I'm learning English," she laughs, "maybe I can launch a music revolution."