ALL ARTISTS// Yma Sumac
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Yma Sumac
The extraordinary Peruvian singer Yma Sumac has died on Saturday 1 November, she was 86 years old. She will be buried in Hollywood where she lived for many years. Said to be the direct descendant of the last Inca emperor Atahualpa, her incredible vocal range of four and a half octaves was a rare gift that became legendary. Released in 1950, her debut album Voice of the Xtabay was an immediate bestseller and she rose to international fame. Born Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo in Ichocan, Peru in 1922, Yma Sumac's adopted stage name was part of a public persona which reveled in the exotic. Performing in the US from the 1940s, her glamourous costumes were perfect for the Technicolor roles she would play in several Mexican and Hollywood movies, including the "The Secret of the Inca," alongside Charlton Heston in 1953. Over her singing career she combined highly stylized interpretations of Peruvian folk traditions with American popular music, and on later recordings, jazz, salsa and rock n roll. In her heyday Yma Sumac toured Latin America, the US, Europe and Japan, including opera appearances in Italy and with symphony orchestras in North America. Still attracting cult attention in the late 1990s, the Coen Brothers featured her song Ataypura in the film The Big Lebowski and in 2003 Black Eyed Peas used a sample of Bo Mambo in Hands Up. In 2006 Yma Sumac was awarded 'The Order of The Sun' in Peru, and remains the only Peruvian on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. A fitting tribute to a phenomenal diva.
// ALSO
- Celia Cruz
- 100 Years of Peruvian Music
- Singer Lhasa dies
- Paris January 2002
- Latin rock riot hits London with Los Fabulosos Cadillacs
- Tony Allen 70 – Nigeria 50. A night to celebrate the man who put the beat in Afrobeat.
- City sounds: Lima, Chicha boom
- Quantic chart, Colombian visions
- From Mambo to Hip Hop, A South Bronx Tale
// DISCOGRAPHY
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Princesa De Los Andes (Album)// LINKS
RELATED ARTISTS
>> Yma Sumac
>> Martin Morales
>> Tania Libertad
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REPORTS
// CONTACT
Yma Sumac's Website// POST A COMMENT
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incacho
14/02/2009
yma sumac strange name strange music even stranger voice she was one of the kind in the world of exotica she may be never replaced there are many good singers but her voice and look will remain unique jean marc b. from paris france
James Byrne
12/09/2009
Yma Sumac's voice will amaze people who aren't even born yet. Truly one in a million performer, thank heavens we have SECRET OF THE INCAS to savour forever.
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