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Peruvian singer Yma Sumac had an exceptionally wide vocal range, reaching from deep low notes to very high ones. In the 1950s her recordings, set in lavish orchestral arrangements, made her an international star.

Yma Sumac

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The story behind the card

Sumac was born in Peru in 1922 as Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo. Her first album for Capitol Records, Voice of the Xtabay (1950), made with the composer Les Baxter, set Andean-inspired songs in lush Hollywood orchestration and sold in huge numbers. Publicity presented her as an Inca princess, and a baseless rumour claimed she was really a Brooklyn housewife called Amy Camus, her name spelled backwards. Estimates of her range run from about four and a half to nearly five octaves; the composer and critic Virgil Thomson put it very close to five. In 1960 she began a tour of the Soviet Union that lasted more than six months. She died in Los Angeles in 2008.

Türkçe oku
Perulu şarkıcı Yma Sumac'ın sesi olağanüstü genişti; en pes notalardan çok tiz notalara kadar uzanıyordu. 1950'lerde gösterişli orkestra düzenlemeleriyle yayımlanan kayıtları onu dünya çapında bir yıldız yaptı.

Sumac, 1922'de Peru'da Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo adıyla doğdu. Besteci Les Baxter'la hazırladığı ve Capitol Records'tan çıkan ilk albümü Voice of the Xtabay (1950), And ezgilerinden esinlenen şarkıları görkemli bir Hollywood orkestrasyonuyla sundu ve çok sattı. Reklamlarda bir İnka prensesi olarak tanıtıldı. Bir de asılsız bir dedikodu yayıldı: güya asıl adı Amy Camus'tü, Brooklyn'de yaşayan bir ev kadınıydı ve adını tersten yazıyordu. Ses genişliği için verilen rakamlar dört buçuk ile beş oktav arasında değişir; besteci ve eleştirmen Virgil Thomson'a göre beş oktava çok yakındı. 1960'ta Sovyetler Birliği'nde altı aydan uzun süren bir turneye çıktı. 2008'de Los Angeles'ta öldü.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Yma Sumac
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