Yma Sumac Dies in Los Angeles

Peruvian singer Yma Sumac has died. With a voice which some claim had the greatest range of any human voice of all time, at least any human who ever graced a recording studio, as well as striking looks and presence, Sumac got bogged down by her own publicity machine and never reached the level of stardom which she might have attained.

After establishing herself in her native Peru (she is the only Peruvian commemorated on Hollywood's Walk of Fame), she came to the United States in 1946. By the fifties, the country was eager for all things exotically Latin, and was Yma Sumac ever exotic. Born Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo, she went through various forms of her final name (Imma Sumack, Ymma Sumack, and Ima Sumack). There was even a rumor that she was a housewife from Brooklyn named "Amy Camus." (Reverse the spelling.) There was also a rumor that she was born an Inca princess, and although she supposedly was born in 1922, there are still questions about that year.

In a time when Mexican restaurants were first becoming popular, when Desi Arnaz and his wife Lucille Ball were ruling the new medium of television, when the cha-cha-cha and the mambo and the samba were the biggest things to hit the dance floor, and neighbors settled down for interminable games of canasta (perhaps while discussing their latest weekend in Havana), Sumac got bogged down in a couple of films and a few record albums with garish covers and too much production that never gave her the chance to develop to her fullest potential. Nonetheless, she continued to perform until she was in her eighties. According to Nicholas E. Limansky in his book Yma Sumac: The Art Behind the Legend, she was able to use most of her vocal range for over four decades.

Although she performed into the new millennium, she is perhaps best known among contemporary audiences for the use of her song "Ataypura" in The Big Lebowski (1998). But, with Yma Sumac, words truly do not do her justice. So, turn to several clips of her that you can watch and listen to on YouTube.

Although she was known for campy, stylized South American songs, she would from time to time branch out, with such songs as these:

"Wimoweh" (with an incongruous US folksong style): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LUSUel_kck

"I Wonder" (from Sleeping Beauty, recorded 1988, apparently her final recording): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFUgcQD5H3E

These are more typical. "Chuncho" was a showpiece for her vocal range: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0TnJs7Szqs

"Gopher Mambo" has been used in several films, including Confessions of a Dangerous Mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YO9DpEDh3E

Here are two clips from her film The Secret of the Incas:

"Pachamama": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-6eKroZeIg

"Ataypura": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad_XL_mNNP8

Supposedly, the film provided inspiration for the Indiana Jones franchise. Village Voice columnist Michael Musto calls it "insanely fabulous." although it has never been released on authorized DVD, it has its own fan website: http://www.secretoftheincas.co.uk

Most of what has been written about Yma Sumac focusses on her amazing vocal range. Although she has been compared to Mariah Carey, she makes me think of Diamanda Galas. Despite the range of her voice, she was stuck in a very limited range of performances, much like black entertainers of the same time. I like to think that like Galas, not only did she take risks with her voice but also that she was, as much as she could be, a transgressive presence in the Eisenhower era. Although what is left of her performances, on records and on film, comes across almost as archeological relics of a distant time in our culture processed through its response to such an amazing outsider, there is a talent, heart, and elegance about Yma Sumac that transcends her times.

There are at least two websites devoted to Yma Sumac:

http://www.yma-sumac.com

http://www.sunvirgin.com

The history of her work in films is recorded at the Internet Movie DataBase:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0838512

The Wikipedia article on Yma Sumac is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yma_Sumac

The Los Angeles Times provides a photo gallery:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-yma_sumac-pg,0,5652678.photogallery

The BBC discusses, "Why is a four octave vocal range so rare?" (one answer: fear):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7708522.stm