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Yma Sumac

I can't believe I've dismissed Yma Sumac as some sort of fun novelty for so long without even giving it a try. I used to sell her CDs when I was working in a music store for chrissake! Close friends of mine have been fans for ages, yet I never even stopped two seconds to actually listen to what she might sound like. Flashforward a few years and I'm at home with my girlfriend, who herself had bought a CD months back but never actually listened to it since then. It's a relaxed night off, we're watching the television and decide to play a game of scrabble while listening to music and having a few drinks. I'm usually the DJ, but this night shed decided to play one of her CDs and she brings out the Yma Sumac compilation she had bought a while back. we start playing the game leisurely and I'm not paying much attention to the music... until I hear her voice that is. As soon as I heard that voice, I couldn't pay attention to the game as much. With every new song, her vocal prowess would exceed what I thought was possible from a human being. There's simply nothing else like it out there. Not even Diamanda Galas comes close (although both seem to be interested in exploring the limits of the human voice).

Her story would make the most incredible Hollywood film (Tim Burton? Paul Thomas Anderson? Anyone care to pick this up? - Oliver Stone? Baz? Don't you guys even dare defile this one)! This lady, born high in the Peruvian Andes under the name Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo, would, as a child, "talk" with the birds and wildlife of the nature surrounding her small village. The villagers were so impressed with her voice that they saw her as a gift of the gods! Soon enough, her voice traveled to the big city where she met her producer and future husband Moises Vivanco. Her talent immediately swept South America by storm and soon enough the world. By this time, she had already taken on a stage name, which is inspired by her mothers name, Ima Shumaq, which is Quechua for "how beautiful!" (now isn't that sweet)! Within weeks, she was already in the USA to record her first album for Capitol records and the rest is history. Yma Sumac was one of the biggest names of the fifties. She and Vivanco started what went on to become exotica; a sort of jazzy lounge music inspired by tropical island folk music. These are like soundtracks taken straight out of a cheesy black and white b-movie with the guy in a giant monkey suit, kidnapping the damsel in distress. It's incredibly tacky, yet solely because of her voice, the music transcends the genre and becomes divine! Literally divine! Not even angels have such a voice. The way she bends it, jumps from one octave to the other, and changes the colors and tone is like watching a trapeze act. It's flamboyant, heartfelt, passionate, strange, alluring, hypnotic and absolutely out-of-this-world. There is so much conviction in her voice that it goes beyond the genre's limits into music of an almost avant-guard and artistic nature (think Patty Waters).

There are zillions of rumors and urban legends out there about Yma Sumac, some are plausible while others are completely ridiculous, yet these also add to the exoticism of her roots. I enjoy thinking of her as the villagers once did. Surely there is something peculiar about a person with such an extraordinary vocal range and control. Not even opera singers could possibly come even close to what she is capable of doing. Forget the cheesy background music, this is someone so unique in the history of music that she deserves to be heard by everyone at least once in their lifetime. Only the soulless will not me mesmerized by her talent.

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