In 1945, he met Don Porfirio Vasquez (father of the singer Pepe Vazquez), who became a decisive influence on Santa Cruz's development as a decimero, a composer using the décima form.

His sister, Victoria Santa Cruz joined him in 1959 as co-director and in 1959, with Conjunto Cumanana, he recorded the album Kumanana, followed in 1960 by Ingá and Décimas y poemas Afroperuanos.

In the 1960s and 1970s Santa Cruz published four poetry collections, many short stories, and two poetry collections: Décimas (1960), Cumanana (1964), Canto a mi Perú (Song to Peru) (1966), Ritmos Negros del Perú (Black Rhythms of Peru) (1971), Antología: décimas y poemas (Anthology: Decimas and Poems) (1971), and Rimactampu: rimas al Rimac (Rimactampu: Rhymes to the River Rimac) (1972).

During his travels, he continued to participate in events promoting Afro-Peruvian folklore, notably his address at the first Black Arts Festival, held in Cañete, in August 1971.

In 1974 he traveled for the first time to Africa, where in Dakar, Senegal, he participated in the symposium "Négritude et Amérique Latine" with his lecture "Aportes de las civilizaciones africanas al folklore del Peru".

In 1987 he began collaborating in preparing a series of LP record albums called Espana en su Folklore, a collection of songbooks from Spain and America.

In 1989 he taught a seminar on African culture in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and the following year participated in the expedition Adventure 92, touring ports in Mexico and Central America.