Yma Sumac

Yma Sumac is a noted soprano of Peruvian origin. 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 extreme vocal range, "well over three octaves" [Ellen Highstein: 'Yma Sumac (Chavarri, Emperatriz)', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 8 August 2006), [http://www.grovemusic.com] ] , which was commonly claimed to span four and even five octaves at its peak [Clarke Fountain, "Yma Sumac: Hollywood's Inca Princess (review). All Movie Guide, reproduced in the "New York Times". 1992. [http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=211369] ] [David Richards, "The Trill of a Lifetime; Exotic Singer Yma Sumac Meets a New Wave of Fans." The "Washington Post", March 2, 1987, STYLE; PAGE B1. Accessed August 6, 2006, via Lexis Nexis, [http://web.lexis-nexis.com] ] .

Biography

Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo

Now known as Yma Sumac, Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo was born on September 13, 1922 [ [http://www.yma-sumac.com/biography.htm#Yma_english Yma Súmac biography] ] in Ichocán, Cajamarca, [Yma Sumac was not born in Callao as noted in unofficial sources [http://www.callao.org/cultura/yma_sumac_regreso.htm] ] Peru. Other dates mentioned in her various biographies range from 1921 to 1929. Some sources [ [http://www.sunvirgin.com/?PageID=16 Yma Sumac official website. "Yma Sumac's Real Birthdate"] ] claim that she was not born in Ichocán, but in a nearby village or possibly in Lima, and that her family owned a ranch in Ichocán where she spent most of her early life. Stories published in the 1950s claimed that she was an Incan princess directly descended from Atahualpa. A story claiming that she was actually born Amy Camus ("Yma Sumac" backwards) in Brooklyn or Canada was fabricated while she was performing in New York City in the early 1950s. [ [http://www.sunvirgin.com/?PageID=18 Yma Sumac official website. "The Real Amy Camus Story"] ]

Imma Sumack

Del Castillo adopted the stage name of Imma Sumack (also spelled Ymma Sumack and Ima Sumack) before she left South America to go to the U.S. The stage name was based on her mother's name which was derived from "Ima Shumaq", Quechua for "how beautiful!" although in interviews she claimed it meant "beautiful flower" or "beautiful girl". [Cusihuaman 2001: p. 47, 103]

Imma Sumack first appeared on radio in 1942, and married composer and bandleader [http://www.sunvirgin.com/?PageID=163 Moisés Vivanco] on June 6 the same year. She recorded at least 20 tracks [ [http://www.sunvirgin.com/?Argentina "Argentina Session 1943"] ] of Peruvian folk songs in Argentina in 1943. These early recordings for the Odeon label featured Moisés Vivanco's group, "Compañía Peruana de Arte", a group of 46 Indian dancers, singers and musicians. In 1946, Sumack and Vivanco moved to New York City, where they performed as the "Inca Taky Trio", Sumack singing soprano, Vivanco on guitar and her cousin Cholita Rivero singing contralto and dancing. Sumack bore a son, Charles, in 1949, and was signed by Capitol Records in 1950, at which time her stage name became Yma Sumac.

Yma Sumac

During the 1950s, Yma Sumac produced a series of legendary lounge music recordings featuring Hollywood-style versions of Incan and South American folk songs, working with the likes of Les Baxter and Billy May. The combination of her extraordinary voice, exotic looks and stage personality made her a hit with American audiences. Sumac even appeared in a Broadway musical, "Flahooley", in 1951, as a foreign princess who brings Aladdin's lamp to an American toy factory to have it repaired. The show's score was by Sammy Fain and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, but Sumac's four numbers were the work of Vivanco. Capitol Records, Sumac's label, recorded the show. "Flahooley" closed quickly but the recording continues as a cult classic, in part because it also marked the Broadway debut of Barbara Cook. During the height of Sumac's popularity, she appeared in the films "Secret of the Incas" (1954) and "Omar Khayyam" (1957). She became a U.S. citizen July 22 1955. In 1959, she popularized Jorge Bravo de Rueda's classic song "Vírgenes del Sol" on her "Fuego del Ande" LP.

In 1957, Sumac and Vivanco divorced, their dispute making news in Los Angeles. [ [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2007/04/incaredible.html Los Angeles Times. April 24 1957. Jack Smith. "Inca-redible: Yma Sumac, Mate Stage Free-for-All"] ] They remarried that same year before divorcing again in 1965. Apparently due to financial difficulties, Yma Sumac and the original "Inca Taky Trio" went on a world tour in 1961, which lasted for five years. They performed in 40 cities in the Soviet Union, and afterwards all over Europe, Asia and Latin America. Their performance in Bucharest, Romania was recorded as the album "Recital", her only 'live in concert' record. Yma Sumac spent the rest of the 1960s performing sporadically.

In 1971, she released a rock album, called "Miracles", and then returned to live in Peru. She performed in concert from time to time during the 1970s in Peru and later in New York. In the 1980s, she had a number of concerts both in the U.S. and abroad including at New York's The Ballroom in 1987 and several San Francisco shows at the Theatre on the Square among others. In 1987, she also recorded the song "I Wonder" from the Disney film "Sleeping Beauty" for "Stay Awake", an album of songs from Disney movies, produced by Hal Willner. She sang "Ataypura" during a March 19 1987 appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, appearing alongside actor-comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Murray.

In 1989, she sang once again at The Ballroom in New York. In March 1990, she played the role of Heidi in Stephen Sondheim's "Follies", in Long Beach, California, her first attempt at serious theater since "Flahooley" in 1951. She also gave several concerts in the summer of 1996 in San Francisco and Hollywood and two more in Montreal, Canada in July 1997 as part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

In 1992, Günther Czernetsky directed a documentary titled "Yma Sumac - Hollywood's Inkaprinzessin" ("Yma Sumac - Hollywood's Inca Princess"). With the resurgence of lounge music in the late 1990s, Sumac's profile rose again when the song "Ataypura" was featured in the Coen Brothers' film "The Big Lebowski". Her song "Bo Mambo" appeared in a commercial for Kahlua liquor, and was sampled for the song "Hands Up" by the Black Eyed Peas. The song "Gopher Mambo" was used in the films "Ordinary Decent Criminal" "Dead Husbands", and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind". The songs "Goomba Boomba" and "Malambo No. 1" appeared in "Death to Smoochy".

Yma Sumac is name-checked in the song "Joe le taxi", sung by French pop star Vanessa Paradis, as an artist that Joe, the taxi driver, likes to listen to (along with Xavier Cugat). [ [http://www.vanessaparadis.fr/supports/paroles.php?idtrack=697 "Joe le taxi" Lyrics on Vanessa Paradis official website] ]

On May 6 2006, Sumac flew to Lima, where she was presented the "Orden del Sol" award by Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, and the Jorge Basadre medal by the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. [ [http://www.sunvirgin.com/?PageID=166 "Yma Sumac Receives Highest Peruvian Honor"] ]

Voice

Yma Sumac recorded an extraordinarily wide vocal range of more than four octaves, from B₂ to C♯₇ (approximately 123 to 2270 Hz). She was able to sing notes in the low baritone register as well as notes above the range of an ordinary soprano. Both low and high extremes can be heard in the song "Chuncho (The Forest Creatures)" (1950).

Recordings

*At least 20 tracks of Peruvian folk songs in Argentina in 1943 for the Odeon Records label, with. Moisés Vivanco's group, Compañía Peruana de Arte—a group of 46 Indian dancers, singers and musicians. (Three additional tracks are instrumentals or feature other vocalists.)(10" 78rpm).
* "Voice of the Xtabay" (1950), Capitol Records CD-244 (78rpm set) [ [http://www.sunvirgin.com/?PageID=4 "Four Octave Inca"] ]
* "Flahooley" (1951), Capitol DF-284 (78rpm set)
* "Legend of the Sun Virgin" (1952), Capitol DDN-299 (78rpm set)
* "Inca Taqui" (1953), Capitol L-243 (10" LP)
* "Voice of the Xtabay & Inca Taqui", (1955) Capitol W-684 (both on one 12" LP)
* "Mambo!" (1954), Capitol T-564 (10" LP)
* "Legend of the Jivaro" (1957), Capitol T-770 (12" LP)
* "Fuego Del Ande" (1959), Capitol T-1169 (Monophonic); ST 1169 (Stereo) (mono and stereo versions were separate recordings) (12" LP)
* "Recital" (1961), EDE-073 (12" LP) - Reissued on CD, ESP-DISK' 4029 (2006)
* "Miracles" (1971), London XPS 608 (12" LP) - Reissued on CD as "Yma Rocks!" (1998), JOM-1027-2

* "I Wonder" on , 1988 (one of Various Artists).

External links

* [http://www.sunvirgin.com/ Official Yma Sumac Site]
* [http://www.yma-sumac.com/ Yma-Sumac.com]
* [http://www.tv.com/person/184813/summary.html Yma Sumac] at TV.com
* [http://www.divalegacy.com/ Excerpts from book on Yma Sumac]
* [http://www.tipsontables.com/cotillion.html Brief review of Sumac at the Cotillion Room] New York City, September 19, 1951
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KprLT-JxPY&NR=1 "Chuncho (The Forest Creatures)"] YouTube video

References

ources

* "Yma Sumac Becomes Citizen". "New York Times", July 23, 1955, p. 10.
* "Yma Sumac's Divorce Final". "New York Times", May 21, 1958, p. 39.
* " [http://javasbachelorpad.com/ymasumac.html Yma Sumac... the Voice of the Incas] ". Fate (magazine), Vol. 4, No. 8, November-December 1951
* [http://www.sunvirgin.com/?PageID=4 Four Octave Inca] , "Pathfinder", November 11, 1950. Retrieved 16 Oct 2005. A piece contemporaneous with the release of "Voice of the Xtabay".
* Cusihuamán, Antonio. "Diccionario Quechua Cuzco-Collao", 2001, Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos "Bartolomé de Las Casas". ISBN 9972-691-36-5
* Limansky, Nicholas E. "Yma Sumac - The Art Behind the Legend"' 2008, YBK Publishers, New York City.