![]() And so Capitol Records took all of these stories from Andean Indigenous history, and basically Hollywooded (ph) them and her right up. And then, as many ambitious entertainers do, she decided to move to Hollywood.ĬAROLINA MIRANDA: Nobody really had much use for Andean folk music in 19 - late 1940s Los Angeles. She became a folk singer, drawing on what were believed to be Incan traditions. She claimed to be a descendant of the last Incan emperor. SIMON: Yma Sumac was born in the Andes, and several towns claimed to be her birthplace. ![]() Let's listen to "Chuncho," where her voice growls. That's about twice as large as any ordinary singer. She had an enormous vocal range - at least four octaves, maybe even five. She would have turned 100 years old this month, either on September 10 or September 13 - some of the details of her life are a little fudgy. SIMON: That's the late Yma Sumac, the Peruvian singer with a singular and stunning sound. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.Now a voice for the ages - whichever age that was. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. SIMON: And her legend continues 100 years after her birth. Like, she was never the kind of performer who later in life kind of had a sense of humor about herself. MIRANDA: There was something, like, very fabulous and larger than life about her, and she never let that go. Carolina Miranda says her music endured with a fan base who cherished her campiness. She even had a 40-city tour of the Soviet Union. SIMON: Yma Sumac did perform in plenty of other places across the U.S. And for a long time, she did not go to Peru. They saw her almost as corrupting the culture. MIRANDA: Peruvians for a long time, you know, had an arm's-length relationship with her. SIMON: Yma Sumac also appeared in movies - with Charlton Heston in the 1954 adventure movie "Secret Of The Incas." While she may have been a star in the U.S., that was not the case in her native Peru - at least not at first. SUMAC: (Singing in non-English language). (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TAITA INTY (VIRGIN OF THE SUN GOD)") It was a stew of international sounds - Asian gongs, pan flutes, drums, these kind of dramatic and florid vocal stylings. MIRANDA: If you think of what the soundtrack to some jungle epic or a tiki bar would be, that was exotica. She wore gold jewelry, big bracelets, an elaborate headpiece and a large necklace. On the cover of her first album, Yma Sumac was posed before a smoking volcano, flanked by images of pre-Columbian sculptures. And here's an example of how Capitol Records gave the singer the Hollywood treatment. SIMON: That's Carolina Miranda, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and a lifelong fan of Yma Sumac. Now a voice for the ages - whichever age that was.
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