Rolando Pérez initiated his musical studies in Santiago de Cuba, where he also began his career as cellist under the guidance of distinguished performer and professor Ernesto Xancó.

This same year, after the inauguration of the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) and the School of Musicology in the same educational institution, Rolando Pérez began his studies in that area, which was founded by Cuban musicologist Argeliers León.

[clarification needed] The text consists of three chapters in which the author begins by analyzing general aspects related to the presence of the African population in Latin America, his contributions to music and to the socio-historical context within which those processes have evolved.

[5] In addition, Pérez has written numerous articles and book chapters, not just focused in the African musical contributions in Latin America, but also extending his interest to linguistics, epistemology and history.

In this regard, his ideas, articles and books have been commented, quoted and reviewed within and outside of the Americas by several prominent researchers such as: Steven Loza,[12] James Robbins,[13] José Jorge de Carvalho,[14] Isabel Aretz,[15] Kofi Agawu,[16] Ángel G. Quintero Rivera,[17] Juan Pablo González,[18] Antonio García de León [es],[19] Helmut Enrique Greiner,[20] Carlos Reynoso[21] and Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán,[22] among others.