Yma Sumac (September 10, 1922* – November 1, 2008) was a Peruvian soprano. In the 1950s,
she was one of the most famous proponents of exotica music and became an international success based on
the merits of her wide-ranging voice, which ranges "well over three
octaves" and was commonly claimed to span four and five octaves at its
peak. (*The Birth Date Mystery: “Her family says that the date was the 12th, but Yma always celebrated it on the 10th which is believed to be the correct day)
Yma Sumac was said to have been a descendant of Inca
kings, an Incan princess that was one of the Golden Virgins. Her offbeat stylings became a phenomenon of early-'50s pop music. While her album covers
took advantage of her strange costumes and voluptuous figure, rumors abounded
that she was, in actuality, a housewife named Amy Camus. It mattered little
because there has been no one like her before or since in the annals of popular
music.
According to the Sumac legend, she was the sixth child of
an Indian mother and an Indian/Spanish father, who raised her as a Quechuan.
She began performing in local festivals before her family moved to Lima, Peru.
Once she was in Lima, she became a member of the Compania Peruana de Arte,
which was a collective of nearly 50 Indian singers, musicians, and dancers.
Sumac married Moises Vivanco, the leader of the Compania, in 1942. Four years
later, Vivanco, Sumac, and her cousin Colita Rivero formed the Inca Taqui Trio
and moved to New York. By the end of the decade, they were performing in
nightclubs throughout New York and playing radio and television programs, most
notably Arthur Godfrey's TV show. The Trio also became a fixture on the Borscht
Belt circuit and the Catskills.
Sumac was signed as a solo artist to Capitol Records in
1950, releasing her first album, the 10" Voice of the Xtabay, the same
year. Voice of the Xtabay was released without much publicity, but it slowly
became a hit and Capitol began pushing Sumac with a massive marketing campaign.
In 1951, she made her Broadway debut in the musical Flahooley, which featured
three songs written by Vivanco; the musical's lifespan was quite brief and it
completed its run by the end of the year. Nevertheless, Sumac's career was
ascending at a rapid rate, as she continued to release hit records including "Mambo!" (1954), with
fiery arrangements by Billy May, and "Fuego del Ande" (1959).
Many of the songs
were composed by her husband and based on Andean folk themes, even if purists
found them less than authentic. She also
toured Europe and South America, as well as Las Vegas nightclubs.
She played an Arab princess in a short-lived Broadway
musical "Flahooley" (1951) and appeared in the Hollywood films
"Secret of the Incas" (1954) with Charlton Heston and "Omar
Khayyam" (1957) with Cornel Wilde.and played sell-out concerts across the
country, including one at the Hollywood Bowl and another at Carnegie Hall.
By the early 1960s, her popularity in the United States
was waning, but she made a triumphant tour of the Soviet Union in 1961 --
Nikita Khrushchev reputedly was a fan -- and cultivated a small but devoted
following in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Sensing the erosion of her
popularity, Sumac retired in the early '60s, without leaving any word or her
location. She performed a handful of unannounced concerts in the mid-'70s. A
comeback album of rock music, "Miracles" (1971), had a limited
release.
In 1987 she played New York's Ballroom nightclub for a
total of three weeks; she also had a stint in a Los Angeles club that same
year. She followed these shows with occasional concert dates around the world.
Her appearance on David Letterman's late-night show in 1987 was greeted by
sarcasm by the host, who asked "Who is this woman?" after her
heartfelt rendition of one of her earliest hits, "Ataypura." Periodic
concerts and the 2005 release "Queen of Exotica," a massive anthology
of her work, kept her most-fervent fans happy and renewed her cult appeal. The
magic-comedy team Penn & Teller used her music to score their stage routines.
To some music writers, she was an inspiration to punk and rock performers.
"All the big stars came to see Yma Sumac," Ms. Sumac told Newsday in
1989. "What is the name of that one, I think Madonna?"
Though Sumac did not perform frequently in the '90s, she experienced a popular revival, as a cult of alternative music fans discovered
the exotica records of the '50s. The ongoing interest in exotica and Sumac led
to the CD release of her catalog in 1996.
On May 2, 2006, Sumac flew to Lima, where she was given
the "Orden del Sol" award by Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, and
the Jorge Basadre medal by the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.
Yma Sumac died on
November 1, 2008, aged 86 at an assisted-living home in Los Angeles, nine
months after being diagnosed with colon cancer. She was interred at the
Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood in the "Sanctuary of
Memories" section. (edited from Wikipedia & AMG)
6 comments:
For The Exotic Lure Of Yma Sumac [3CD] go here:
http://turbobit.net/fdejj4fhk7i6.html
CD1
01. Virgenes del Sol (The Sun Maidens) (3:22)
02. Waraka Tusuy (3:19)
03. Amor Indio (Indian Love) (2:15)
04. Que Lindos Ojos (Beautiful Eyes) (2:18)
05. Un Amor (One Love) (1:41)
06. Cholo Traicionero (2:52)
07. Cholitas Punenas (2:18)
08. A Ti Solita Te Quiero (I Love Only You) (2:19)
09. Taita Inty (Virgin of the Sun God) (3:04)
10. Ataypura (High Andes) (3:02)
11. Accla Taqui (Chant of the Chosen Maidens) (2:43)
12. Tumpa (Earthquake) (3:18)
13. Choladas (Dance of the Moon Festival) (2:33)
14. Wayra (Dance of the Winds) (3:01)
15. Monos (Monkeys) (2:39)
16. Xtabay (Lure of the Unknown Love) (3:16)
CD2
01. Babalu (2:48)
02. Wimoweh (2:39)
03. Karibe Taki (3:02)
04. Witallia (Fire in the Andes) (2:20)
05. Lament (3:16)
06. Zana (2:01)
07. Kuyaway (Inca Love Song) (2:44)
08. Suray Surita (3:17)
09. No Es Vida (2:20)
10. Mamallay (2:58)
11. Kon Tiki (3:08)
12. Montana (3:39)
13. K'arawi (Planting Song) (3:19)
14. Cumbe-Maita (Call of the Andes) (3:06)
15. Wak'ai (Cry) (2:29)
16. Incacho (Royal Anthem) (3:06)
CD3
01. Chuncho (The Forest Creatures) (3:40)
02. Llulla Mak'ta (Andean Don Juan) (2:26)
03. Malaya (My Destiny) (3:27)
04. Ripui (3:00)
05. Bo Mambo (3:20)
06. Taki Rari (1:50)
07. Gopher (2:16)
08. Chicken Talk (3:03)
09. Malambo No. 1 (2:55)
10. Five Bottles Mambo (2:47)
11. Indian Carnival (2:05)
12. Jungla (2:22)
13. Goomba Boomba (4:12)
14. Cha Cha Gitano (3:51)
15. Carnavalito Boliviano (2:04)
A amazing voice had this woman.
Bob, my new blo adress is http://terugnaarvroeger.blogspot.nl/
The old one (Bakeliedjes) was hacked and also my old gmail adress.
Regards Theo
Hi - thanks for all you're doing here. Any chance of a reup on Yma?
Thanks.
Hello Neil, Unfortunately I do not have this 3CD set, but I have managed to reconstruct the playlist with mp3's from various digital albums, which I hope will suffice.
https://workupload.com/file/8xGSnwUN9PG
Great stuff - hugely appreciated
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