Virgil Thomson
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| - | '''Yma Sumac''' (September 13, 1922 (birth certificate) – November 1, 2008), was a Peruvian [[coloratura soprano]]. In the 1950s, she was one of the most famous exponents of [[exotica]] music. | ||
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| - | Sumac became an international success based on her extreme [[vocal range]]. She had five [[octave]]s according to some reports, but other reports (and recordings) document four-and-a-half at the peak of her singing career. f(A typical trained singer has a range of about three octaves.) | ||
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| - | In one live recording of "Chuncho", she sings a range of over four and a half octaves, from B<sub>2</sub> to G<sub>7</sub>. She was able to sing notes in the low [[baritone]] register as well as notes above the range of an ordinary soprano and notes in the [[whistle register]]. Both low and high extremes can be heard in the song "Chuncho (The Forest Creatures)" (1953). She was also apparently able to sing in a remarkable "double voice". | ||
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| - | In 1954, classical composer [[Virgil Thomson]] described Sumac's voice as "very low and warm, very high and birdlike", noting that her range "is very close to five octaves, but is in no way inhuman or outlandish in sound." In 2012, audio recording restoration expert John H. Haley favorably compared Sumac's tone to opera singers [[Isabella Colbran]], [[Maria Malibran]], and [[Pauline Viardot]]. He described Sumac's voice as not having the "bright penetrating peal of a true coloratura soprano", but having in its place "an alluring sweet darkness ... virtually unique in our time." | ||
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| - | ==Early life== | ||
| - | Sumac was born Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo on September 10, 1923, in [[Ichocán District|Ichocán]], a historically indigenous village in [[Cajamarca, Peru]]. Her parents were Sixto Chávarri and Emilia del Castillo. Her father was born in [[Cajamarca]] and her mother was born in [[Pallasca]]. Stories published in the 1950s claimed that she was an [[Inca]]n princess, directly descended from [[Atahualpa]]. The government of Peru in 1946 formally supported her claim to be descended from Atahualpa, the last Incan emperor. She was the youngest of six children. Her mother was a schoolteacher and her father a civic leader. | ||
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| - | Chávarri adopted the stage name of Imma Sumack (also spelled Yma Sumack and Ima Sumack) before she left South America for the United States. The stage name was based on her mother's name, which was derived from "ima shumaq", [[Quechua languages|Quechua]] for "how beautiful!", although in interviews she claimed it meant "beautiful flower" or "beautiful girl". | ||
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| - | ==Career== | ||
| - | Sumac first appeared on radio in 1942. She recorded at least 18 tracks of Peruvian folk songs in [[Buenos Aires]], Argentina in 1943. These early recordings for the [[Odeon Records|Odeon]] label featured composer Moisés Vivanco's troupe ''Compañía Peruana de Arte'', of 16 Peruvian dancers, singers, and musicians. | ||
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| - | She married Moisés Vivanco on June 6, 1942. After this date, Moises and Yma toured South America and Mexico as a group of fourteen musicians called Imma Sumack and the Conjunto Folklorico Peruana. In 1946, Sumac and Vivanco moved to New York City where they performed as the Inka Taqui Trio, Sumac singing [[soprano]], Vivanco on guitar, and her cousin, Cholita Rivero, singing [[contralto]] and dancing. The group was unable to attain any success; their participation in South American Music Festival in Carnegie Hall was reviewed positively. In 1949, Yma gave birth to their only child Carlos. She was discovered by [[Les Baxter]] and signed by [[Capitol Records]] in 1950, at which time her stage name became Yma Sumac. Her first album, ''[[Voice of the Xtabay]]'', launched a period of fame that included performances at the [[Hollywood Bowl]] and [[Carnegie Hall]]. | ||
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| - | In 1950 she made her first tour to Europe and Africa, and debuted at the [[Royal Albert Hall]] in London and the [[Royal Festival Hall]] before [[Elizabeth II|the Queen]]. She presented more than 80 concerts in London and 16 concerts in Paris. A second tour took her to the Far East: Persia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Burma, Thailand, Sumatra, the Philippines, and Australia. Her fame in countries like Greece, Israel and Russia made her change her two-week stay to six months. During the 1950s, she produced a series of [[lounge music]] recordings featuring [[Hollywood]]-style versions of Incan and South American folk songs, working with [[Les Baxter]] and [[Billy May]]. The combination of her extraordinary voice, exotic looks, and stage personality made her a hit with American audiences. Sumac appeared in a [[Broadway theater|Broadway]] musical, ''[[Flahooley]]'', in 1951, as a foreign princess who brings [[Aladdin]]'s lamp to an American toy factory to have it repaired. The show's score was by [[Sammy Fain]] and [[Yip Harburg]], but her three numbers were the work of Vivanco, with one co-written by Vivanco and Fain. | ||
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| - | During the 1950s, Sumac continued to be popular, playing [[Carnegie Hall]], the [[Roxy Theatre (New York City)|Roxy Theatre]] with [[Danny Kaye]], [[Las Vegas]] nightclubs and concert tours of South America and Europe. She put out a number of hit albums, such as [[Mambo! (Yma Sumac album)|''Mambo!'']] (1954) and ''Fuego del Ande'' (1959). [[Capitol Records]], Sumac's label, recorded the show. ''Flahooley'' closed quickly, but the recording continues as a cult classic, in part because it also marked the Broadway debut of [[Barbara Cook]]. During the height of Sumac's popularity, she appeared in the films ''[[Secret of the Incas]]'' (1954) with [[Charlton Heston]] and Robert Young and ''[[Omar Khayyam (film)|Omar Khayyam]]'' (1957). | ||
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| - | She became a U.S. citizen on July 22, 1955. In 1959, she performed [[Jorge Bravo de Rueda]]'s classic song "Vírgenes del Sol" on her album ''Fuego del Ande''. In 1957 Sumac and Vivanco divorced, after Vivanco sired twins with another woman. They remarried that same year, but a second divorce followed in 1965. Apparently due to financial difficulties, Sumac and the original Inka Taky Trio went on a world tour in 1960, which lasted for five years. They performed in 40 cities in the [[Soviet Union]] for over six months, and a film was shot recording some moments of the tour, and afterward throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America. Their performance in [[Bucharest|Bucharest, Romania]], was recorded as the album ''Recital'', her only live in concert record. Sumac spent the rest of the 1960s performing sporadically. | ||
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| - | == Vocal range == | ||
| - | Sumac had a wide vocal register; she could emit notes from above a coloratura soprano to the low notes of a bass and had one of the widest vocal ranges. She was able to emit notes from the tessitura of sopranino, soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone and bass, and was the only person able to do the triple coloratura or the trill of the birds. Her singing voice ranged from ti<sub>1</sub> to re<sub>7</sub>. | ||
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| - | One source claims that in the song "K'arawi", she reached a Re<sub>8</sub> (00:26). This would extend her vocal range to almost 6 octaves. | ||
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| - | In the song "Chuncho" she sang from a ti<sub>1</sub> (at minute 0:40) to a Re<sub>7</sub> (at minute 2:56). | ||
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| - | In this live she performs a duet with the flute reaching an E<sub>6</sub>. | ||
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| - | ==Later career== | ||
| - | In 1971, Sumac released a [[Rock music|rock]] album, ''Miracles''. She performed in concert from time to time during the 1970s in Peru and later in New York at the Chateau Madrid and [[Town Hall]]. In the 1980s, she resumed her career under the management of [[Alan Eichler]] and had a number of concerts both in the United States and abroad, including the [[Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel|Hollywood Roosevelt Cinegrill]], New York's Ballroom in 1987 (where she was held over for seven weeks to SRO crowds) and several [[San Francisco]] shows at the Theatre on the Square among others. | ||
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| - | In 1987, she recorded "I Wonder" from the [[Walt Disney Pictures|Disney]] film ''[[Sleeping Beauty]]'' for ''[[Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films|Stay Awake]]'', an album of songs from [[Walt Disney Pictures|Disney]] movies, produced by [[Hal Willner]]. She sang "Ataypura" during a March 19, 1987, appearance on ''[[Late Night with David Letterman]]''. She recorded a new German "techno" dance record, "Mambo ConFusion". | ||
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| - | In 1989, she sang again at the Ballroom in New York and returned to Europe for the first time in 30 years to headline the [[Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie|BRT]]'s "Gala van de Gouden Bertjes" New Year's Eve TV special in [[Brussels]] as well as the "Etoile Palace" program in Paris hosted by [[Frederic Mitterrand]]. In March 1990, she played the role of Heidi in [[Stephen Sondheim]]'s ''[[Follies]]'', in [[Long Beach, California]], her first attempt at serious theater since ''Flahooley'' in 1951. | ||
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| - | She also gave several concerts in the summer of 1996 in [[San Francisco]] and Hollywood as well as two more in [[Montreal]], Canada, in July 1997 as part of the [[Montreal International Jazz Festival]]. In 1992, she declined to appear in a documentary for German television entitled ''Yma Sumac – Hollywoods Inkaprinzessin'' (''Yma Sumac – Hollywood's Inca Princess''). With the resurgence of [[lounge music]] in the late 1990s, Sumac's profile rose again when the song "Ataypura" was featured in the [[Coen Brothers]] film ''[[The Big Lebowski]]''. | ||
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| - | Her song "Bo Mambo" appeared in a commercial for [[Kahlúa]] liquor and was sampled for the song "Hands Up" by [[The Black Eyed Peas]]. The song "Gopher Mambo" was used in the films ''[[Ordinary Decent Criminal]]'', ''[[Happy, Texas (film)|Happy Texas]]'', ''[[Spy Games]]'', and ''[[Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (film)|Confessions of a Dangerous Mind]]'', among others. "Gopher Mambo" was used in an act of the Cirque Du Soleil show ''[[Quidam]]''. The songs "Goomba Boomba" and "Malambo No. 1" appeared in ''[[Death to Smoochy]]''. A sample from "Malambo No.1" was used in Robin Thicke's "Everything I Can't Have". Sumac is also mentioned in the lyrics of the 1980s song "[[Joe le taxi]]" by [[Vanessa Paradis]], and her album ''Mambo!'' is the record that [[Belinda Carlisle]] pulls out of its jacket in the video for "Mad About You". | ||
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| - | On May 6, 2006, Sumac flew to [[Lima, Peru|Lima]], where she was presented the ''[[Order of the Sun (Peru)|Orden del Sol]]'' award by Peruvian President [[Alejandro Toledo]] and the [[Jorge Basadre]] medal by the [[Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos]]. | ||
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| - | ==Death== | ||
| - | Sumac died on November 1, 2008, aged 86, at an assisted living home in Los Angeles, California, nine months after being diagnosed with [[colon cancer]]. She was interred at the [[Hollywood Forever Cemetery]] in the "Sanctuary of Memories" section. | ||
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| - | On September 13, 2016, a [[Google Doodle]] depicted Sumac. | ||
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| - | On June 25, 2019, ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'' listed Yma Sumac among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the [[2008 Universal fire]]. | ||
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| - | ==Discography== | ||
| - | A 1943 recording session in Argentina included 23 songs, released on 78 rpm Odeon records. | ||
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| - | ===Albums=== | ||
| - | * ''[[Voice of the Xtabay]]'' (1950) | ||
| - | * ''[[Legend of the Sun Virgin]]'' (1952) | ||
| - | * ''[[Inca Taqui]]'' (1953) | ||
| - | * ''[[Mambo! (Yma Sumac album)|Mambo!]]'' (1954) | ||
| - | * ''[[Legend of the Jivaro]]'' (1957) | ||
| - | * ''[[Fuego Del Ande]]'' (1959) | ||
| - | * ''[[Recital (Yma Sumac album)|Recital]]'' (1961) | ||
| - | * ''[[Miracles (Yma Sumac album)|Miracles]]'' (1971) | ||
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| - | ===Compilations=== | ||
| - | * ''The Spell of Yma Sumac'' (1987) | ||
| - | * ''Amor Indio'' (1994) | ||
| - | * ''Shou Condor'' (1997) | ||
| - | * ''The Ultimate Yma Sumac Collection'' (2000) | ||
| - | * ''Virgin of the Sun God'' (2002) | ||
| - | * ''The Exotic Sounds of Yma Sumac'' (2002) | ||
| - | * ''Queen of Exotica'' (2005) | ||
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| - | ==Filmography== | ||
| - | {| class="wikitable" | ||
| - | |- | ||
| - | ! Year | ||
| - | ! Title | ||
| - | ! Role | ||
| - | ! Notes | ||
| - | |- | ||
| - | |1954|| ''[[Secret of the Incas]]'' || Kori-Tica || | ||
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| - | |1957|| '' [[Omar Khayyam (film)|Omar Khayyam]]'' || Karina || | ||
| - | |- | ||
| - | |1958|| ''[[Música de siempre]]'' || || | ||
| - | |- | ||
| - | |1960|| ''Las canciones unidas'' || || | ||
| - | |} | ||
| + | '''Virgil Thomson''' (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and [[critic]]. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a [[musical modernism|modernist]], a [[neo-Romanticism (music)|neoromantic]], a [[neo-Classicism (music)|neoclassicist]], and a composer of "an Olympian blend of humanity and detachment" whose "expressive voice was always carefully muted" until his late opera ''[[Lord Byron (opera)|Lord Byron]]'' which, in contrast to all his previous work, exhibited an emotional content that rises to "moments of real passion". | ||
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Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclassicist, and a composer of "an Olympian blend of humanity and detachment" whose "expressive voice was always carefully muted" until his late opera Lord Byron which, in contrast to all his previous work, exhibited an emotional content that rises to "moments of real passion".
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Virgil Thomson" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
