Luis Perez climbed a Mayan pyramid on the Yucatan Peninsula, sat on a stone altar at the summit and closed his eyes.

"While I was meditating, the sound of drums came from far away in the jungle," recalled Perez, 39, in his Highland Park home. "I took my flute out and played with the rhythm of the drums, following the beats. I had my eyes closed and forgot about time, forgot about everything.

"Suddenly, all these sounds were coming from everywhere, a lot of people in the pyramids were whispering a strange, very beautiful language which I couldn't identify. I sensed someone around me and felt feathers touch my arm. Then I opened my eyes and the magic disappeared. Nobody was there and the songs and drums had stopped."

Perez was then a 19-year-old rocker playing electric guitar, flute and singing British and North American pop hits in his native Mexico City. But that spiritual experience at Palenque 20 years ago convinced him to dedicate himself to the music of Mesoamerican cultures.

Today, he appears with the group Huayucaltia from noon to 1 p.m. as part of the free Concerts in the Spiral Court series at the California Plaza downtown, and is recognized as an authority on the indigenous musical traditions of Mexico. He lectures on pre-Columbian music to ethnomusicology students at UCLA each year.

Perez studied music at the University of Mexico from 1970 to 1974 but his research also focused on culture while he lived among ethnic Indian groups. In the mid-'80s, one group, the Nahuatl, gave him the name Ixoneztli (pronounced \o7 Ish-o-nest-lee\f7 ), "the music maker."

His collection of more than 500 percussion and wind instruments includes pieces from 500 to 3,000 years old. Initially, Perez tried to mix those instruments into a rock context but now, using electronic delay devices in live performances, he layers the instruments' sounds atop one another.

"People started doing scientific research about the music, but they didn't use the musical artifacts to produce music," Perez said. "I'm combining these instruments to produce something for today, doing my own interpretations based on my inspiration, because we don't know anything about pre-Columbian music."

Perez will be busy during the Los Angeles Festival. Huayucaltia will be featured Sept. 8 at Griffith Park and on the Andean Winds program Sept. 9 at UCLA's Sunset Canyon Amphitheater.