Re: Yma Sumac (long, but hopefully, imformative)

[katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris n Vickie)]

Vickie here, Vishal writes:

> I am looking for information about Yma Sumac.  Would appreciate
> album names, reocommendations, where to get the stuff etc.  All
> I know is her name and that she gets mentioned in the same breath
> as Diamanda Galas!

Yes indeedy, she's a wonder to behold. I can't give you too much 
information about her, but the facts are muddled anyway. I first 
heard of her when she appeared on David Letterman close to 10
years ago. The short story is that she's an Incan Princess who
was raised in the mountains of Peru. She became famous in the late 1950s.

>From the liner notes of her album _Voice of the Xtabay_:

"Born high in the Peruvian Andes, a descendant of the last of the Incan
kings, Yma Sumac spent her childhood literally "talking" with the birds,
the beasts, the winds, the sounds of life and nature surrounding the little
village of Ichocan.

It is no exaggeration to say that Yma Sumac possesses the most extra-
ordinary voice of our times. If it were but a vocal instrument it would
still be exciting, but this beautiful Incan princess plays her fabulous
four-octave range with such a variety of emotional attitudes and tonal
color that the result is a unique and spellbinding experience."

The story goes on to tell how word of her "phenomenal vocal powers"
reached the Peruvian capital of Lima, and a government delegation was
assigned to go find this wonder woman. She went on to study in Lima
and eventually became world famous.

The true parts:

1) She's definitely got "phenomenal vocal powers"
2) She definitely became world famous in the late 1950s.

Everything else is muddled. The rumour, which has never been confirmed
(to my knowledge), is that "Yma Sumac" is "Amy Camus" backward and that
she's really from New Jersey! David Letterman couldn't get her to deviate
from the Incan princess story. I have an interview with Diamanda Galas
who met and talked with Yma, and she firmly believes that Yma is Incan.
I've been assured that the language Yma sings is Peruvian.

I personally don't care. Either way is fascinating! If she's an Incan
princess, that's wonderful...amazing! If she's from New Jersey, it's
interesting that she was considered so weird that this elaborate "cover"
was created to explain the weirdness in the conservative 1950s.

I always like to play Yma Sumac and Lene Lovich together, calling Lene
"Yma's spiritual granddaughter" and I always thought that Lene was very
influenced by Yma. But not very long ago I saw an interview with a woman
who had worked for Lene's old record company. She was assigned to accompany
Lene during the day, before her concert that night in Chicago. During their
conversations the woman happened to mention Yma. Lene said "who?" ! She had
never heard of her! So the woman took Lene to a record store and bought her
a Yma Sumac album. No info on what Lene thought about it.

I have 3 Yma Sumac albums (vinyl LPs) 

1. _The Voice of the Xtabay_ a 50s (?) re-release, which combined 2 albums,
           _The Voice of the Xtabay_ and _Inca Taqui_. I believe both of
           these albums were originally released as 10" LPs.
 
2. _Legend of the Sun Virgin_ which I'm pretty sure is an original. 

3. _Legend of the Jivaro_ originally released in 1957, the album I have is a
   1984 re-release, French import)

1 and 2 have been re-released on CD in America (which I also have) by the
original label, Capitol. I've never seen any others on CD, though they may
exist somewhere.

The music was written by a musicologist (that's the story anyway) named
Moises Vivanco, who was also Yma's arranger, conductor and husband. He
incorporates many unusual, interesting instruments in the music. On the
album _Legend of the Jivaro_ the liner notes say that he and Yma went 
to the remote mountain jungles of the Jivaros with a tape recorder and
"taped innumerable native sounds and melodies to use for reference in the
composition of the songs for this album." I don't know *what* to believe
about these people, but there are lots of fascinating sounds and melodies
on all 3 albums. My only problem is that, on some songs (not all), he uses
a big orchestra which dates many of the songs. They sound 50s Hollywoodish.
The songs I like the best are the ones that sound traditional, that sound,
to my ears, as if they could have come directly from the mountains of Peru.

My favorite songs of are from _Inca Taqui_: Llulla Mak'ta, Malaya!, Ripui,
Chuncho, and K'arawi. These are on the CD _Voice of the Xtabay_. That LP
and CD has the best liner notes too, with short but elaborate stories telling
what each song is about. Here's one example:

Chuncho (The Forest Creatures)

"The music of the Incans was inspired, in greatest part, by teeming variety
of mysterious sounds of nature about them. And, as Inca maidens have done
for many centuies before her, Yma Sumac has wandered through the forests
of the upper Amazon, listening to their waking life, and calling to their
creatures in imatative cries. That is the music of Chuncho, the wild,
unearthly sounds of monkeys, jackals, and especially a fantastic host of
colorful and chattering birds. Yma Sumac's singing is climaxed by her
phenomenal "double-voiced" trill."

Cool eh? She also plays great guitar!

One more thing. In the 70s Yma record a horrible rock album. When we saw
Penn & Teller's tour last year ("The Refrigerator Tour") that album was
playing before the show and during the intermission. Chris asked the sound
man about it and was told that it was Penn's personal tape. I talked to Penn
during the intermission and he told me about the album. He's a big Yma fan!
I don't remember any details, he was in a big hurry and was talking while
we walked. He thought it was cool that I recognized Yma's voice.

That's all I know about Yma Sumac. If anyone finds her albums (either LP
or CD) I'd say they are definitely worth picking up, *just* to have in 
your collection. Take good drugs and alternate playing Yma, Diamanda and
Lene. Scare your neighbors! Frighten your pets! Fry your brain! Good fun!

Whew!

Vickie
katefans@chinet.chi.il.us