YMA SUMAC?

Roger Shackelton · Post by **Roger Shackelton** » 13 Oct 2007 4:36 pm

Are any Forumites old enough to remember this "FIVE OCTAVE Queen of Exotica? I'm 64 and I don't, but then I was born in the Boondocks. he he he
An elderly lady, I knew played a few of her songs for me back in the 1970s. The record album was entitled "Voice of The Xtabay". Yma Sumac backwards spells Amy Camus. She was born, Zoila Imperatriz
Charrari Sumac del Castillo in PERU in about 1927. She was popular in the 1950s.

ROGER

Skip Edwards · Post by **Skip Edwards** » 13 Oct 2007 6:12 pm

I've heard Yma Sumac before...with her 5 (at least 5) octave range.
Is she still with us?

Blake Hawkins · Post by **Blake Hawkins** » 13 Oct 2007 8:47 pm

Yes, I had the album. Capitol also put one of her cuts on their Hi-Fi demo record.
The recording quality is excellent and the music
interesting.

Blake

Roger Shackelton · Post by **Roger Shackelton** » 13 Oct 2007 9:11 pm

I checked the Internet and apparently Yma is still alive. If so she is about 85 years old.

Roger

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 14 Oct 2007 2:12 am

My mother really liked her and had some of her records when I was a kid. Also, I seem to recall seeing a film clip of her.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 14 Oct 2007 7:07 am

More info at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yma_Sumac

Steve Hitsman · Post by **Steve Hitsman** » 14 Oct 2007 9:58 am

Every serious crossword puzzle fan has heard of Yma Sumac.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 14 Oct 2007 11:13 am

I can go one better - I saw her perform when I was very young.

I was probably only eight or nine, which puts it at around 1951 or so. I grew up in North London, and my parents took us three kids to see a sort of 'rodeo' (well, that's how it was billed) held at the Harringay Stadium, not far from Manor House. The Stadium was more commonly used for greyhound racing and speedway racing on the cinder track.

I'll never forget the raw cold - I believe it was November - and the principal attraction was none other than Hopalong Cassidy!!! Really! All he did was wait in this huge packing case that had a ramp leading up to it and, at his cue, the ramp was lowered and he rode down the slope, around the Stadium (dressed in his black ensemble with two six-guns, and his white horse - what was HIS name?), then disappeared.

Oh yes - Yma Sumac....

She was second on the bill, and I remember being unimpressed as she negotiated several octaves once or twice.

I was there to see Hoppy!!!

It was a curious 'entertainment', but a big splash of colour in a dreary post-war London.

RR

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 14 Oct 2007 3:14 pm

Hoppy's horse was Topper.

Roy Ayres · Post by **Roy Ayres** » 15 Oct 2007 8:09 am

I was about 20 when she was being heard a lot on radio. The range of her voice was astounding. She would start a phrase on a high note that sounded like a whistle and end on a low note that was more-or-less like a rumble. I often wondered if it could have been some kind of technical manipulation of a somewhat average female range -- but I think it was real.

Keith Cordell · Post by **Keith Cordell** » 15 Oct 2007 7:51 pm

Yma was billed as "the Human Theremin" in the 60's. She has a totally ethereal vocal quality in the high registers, and sounds like she is coming to kick your a** when she gets in the lower range. I have three records with her on them, as well as a track on a Three Suns record with her guesting. She was absolutely amazing. Any real exotica fan knows her.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 16 Oct 2007 2:25 am

Roy

I doubt it was a trick if she managed to pull it off in a stadium with decidedly low-tech sound equipment in the early 1950s.

I'm sure she was amazing. Please don't dismiss me as a total Phillistine because I said I was unimpresssed - I was an eight year old boy waiting to see a 'real' cowboy, and the rest of the bill went by in a blur!!!!

RR

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 16 Oct 2007 7:01 am

Roger,
Hoppy's real name was William Boyd.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 16 Oct 2007 7:20 am

Of course, Erv - I'd forgotten that.

Thanks (and thanks, Barry, for the 'Topper' info)...

RR