I was a little saddened to learn that the kitschy Peruvian singer Yma Sumac – a favorite of suburban cocktail loungers in the 1950s, as well as latter-day hipsters – died this past Saturday at an assisted-living home in Los Angeles. (I was a little surprised, too. She had resurfaced in the 1990s as somewhat of a nostalgia act, but it had been so long since her heyday that I thought she was long gone already.) With her operatic five-octave voice and her glamorous Incan-princess image, she was a mix of genuine talent, strange beauty, and outlandish theatrics – and a staple of "exotica."
For the uninitiated, exotica was a style of music that arose in the ‘50s and was marked by the sort of grandiose mock-tropical sound (jungle fantasias, Pacific island reveries, Polynesian love songs, etc.) heard on albums of the era by composers/arrangers Martin Denny and Les Baxter – the latter having produced wild, evocative Sumac albums such as Voice of the Ixtabay. Even today, listening to her stuff is transporting. It’s no wonder that her vintage material had a ‘90s revival owing to the borderline-ironic embrace of lounge music by certain post-punk sophisticates. I was (and I remain) a fan.
Sumac was reportedly 86, but she had carefully built up a mystique over the course of her career. Her age and whereabouts were in the fuzzy zone. We do know that she was a native of Peru and her birth name was Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo. In 1942, she married composer, bandleader and early collaborator Moises Vivanco who flipped for her remarkable voice – an amazing instrument that could effortlessly swoop from trill to growl and back again, then gently or boldly seduce the listener.
She went on Peruvian radio, and people took notice. Billed as the "Nightingale of the Andes," she relocated to the United States, signed with Capitol Records, and recorded Voice of the Ixtabay under the name Yma Sumac. The album was released in 1950, and became an unlikely hit, selling half a million copies and setting her career in motion. More albums followed, as did concerts at Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, a role in a Broadway musical, and a brief run in films that included appearing opposite Charlton Heston in the 1954 movie "Secret of the Incas."
If you’ve seen the Coen Brothers’ rollicking 1998 comedy "The Big Lebowski," you’ve heard Sumac singing her miasmic melody "Ataypura." If not, you can see and hear her perform the number "Chuncho" in the video below. And under that, there is some archival footage of the diva herself to the tune of her "Malambo No. 1," which is also available as a stream on the MOG player above.
Take the trip, and let Yma be your guide…
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Mike, I really like what you wrote. "Malambo No. 1" and the two videos are priceless. The second video has a lot of cool images, but I prefer the first for how its straightforward approach better captures her baroque allure. The Fifties certainly had its share of oddity and eccentricity.
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Great post!
I'm a big fan of Baxter and Denny, but don't know much about exotica beyond the two of them.
This is good stuff--thanks for the lesson!
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May her spirit dwell in the misty mountains of the Andes forever, communing with the animals, birds and trees.
A truly unique talent, no matter the kitsch. Can you imagine someone trying to make a similar career today? I don't think it's possible.
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Incredible. Thanks for another deep music lesson.
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OMG what an amazing voice! I love when she hits those high notes in the 2nd vid, wow. I love 'The Big Lebowski'(& own it) but don't recall her song even though I found it on Youtube.
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Spike: Thanks, man! Who'da thunk that such a buttoned-down era would have produced this wacky, bizarre, other-worldly stuff - and ROCK 'N' ROLL?
incurablyerin: My pleasure! If you do like Baxter and Denny, I'd say that Voice of the Ixtabay is absolutely worth corralling for your collection.
L.M.I.: A career like Yma's? Today? Hmmm. Björk?
van: Bien sur! That's why I drop by the archive room of the MOG lodge and dig through the files...
August: I know what you mean. Crazy! When she starts with that guttural "wow-wow-wow" on "Malambo No. 1," I wanna start hopping around the room.
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I love this kind of stuff. You totally rock Mike. That high notes with the deep waw waw waw... She really is amazing.
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Provocative!
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I saw a brief mention of her in the paper, so thanks for posting on this wonderfully exotic woman. The period photography in the second photo is fascinating - one of her concerts in the 50s looks like a real extravaganza. I noticed you didn't mention the Yma Sumac - Amy Camus story. Do you knwo where that came from? Is Amy her adopted American name?
I was introduced to Yma by a school teacher who brought her records into class and played them for us. No reason, except he wanted to share his enthusiasm (or amazement) with us. I trust the teachers among our Mog brethren are doing similar things with their pupils.
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Kori: And you roll, sister! It makes sense that a musician who seems to relish creating atmospheres would get a kick out of Yma and her oeuvre.
e.p.: In a good way. After years of hearing her voice, it can still give me goosebumps.
Jonh: It was a mitzvah, man! Always thought that the "Amy Camus" story was some cross between '50s celebrity gossip and an urban legend. From all the evidence, she was a native of Peru who emigrated here - and not a fraud from Brooklyn actually named Amy. If anyone can contradict the obits, please do. I dig a hoax wrapped in a scandal as much as the next looky-loo.
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I'd like to contribute this video. I went through so many of them to make a post. Thanks, Mike, for getting this on the MOG and getting the ball rolling. This woman's voice and musicianship were awsome. Sometimes I have to think about the employment of such talent in the service of kitsch. But that's culture. Really, who's to say what will endure? In some ways what at first glance strikes me as low brow really transcends the highbrow. You do have to wonder, though, what those Peruvian guys in the Inca costumes were thinking when they were watching her sing in the movies.
I am surprised at the number of people who were not aware of her. I bought Voice of the Xtabay! ages ago. Then I got her 1971 rock (!) album Miracles, wihich has recently been reissued in a limited edition called Yma Rocks!
May she Rest in Peace!
The Amy Camus thing is an example of how little things get blown up. She was born Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo probably on September 13, 1922 in or near Ichocan, Cajamarca, Peru. Before she came to the US, she adopted the stage name of Imma Sumack, also spelled Ymma Sumack or Ima Sumack. The name was based on her mother's name which was derived from Ima Shumaq, Quechua for "how beautiful!" although in interviews like the one incorporated in this video she said it meant "beautiful flower" or "beautiful girl". In New York, some musician apparently noticed the coincidence with Amy Camus and quipped that she was a nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn. Ever eager to play loose with other people's lives for a juicy column, Walter Winchell, a Russian-Jewish boy from Harlem, picked up and spred the joke as a gossip story. It has, unfortunately, dogged Yma Sumac to the grave.
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this news saddens me, in a way. like you, i did not even realize she was still alive although i distinctly remember her music gaining new fans in the '90s, or at least, new CD releases.
anyway, i was saying to Sam Fisty in another post that Ottawan had been part of my childhood because it was simply played everywhere. similar is true for Yma Sumac, first on TV or in diners and later in clubs - oddly enough, following my change of hangouts as i grew up. she is something else, could stand out in a cacophony of noise. here's to Yma.
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can you think of anyone who is actively making music today who is taken up the mantle for what yma was doing? this is so beautiful and strange that i can't stop listening. even though i have no idea what she's doing.
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Spike 1: Thank you for enhancing the thread with more goodies!
poebegone: You said it. With or despite all the disparate strains that she and her collaborators corralled, she was truly an original. And these sounds will still be cool and hot when global warming has done its worst.
Grant Langston: There's some freaky stuff out there, but, no, I can't think of a latter-day Yma out there. The search continues.