Yma Sumac [1922-2008]

Artist: Yma Sumac

LP: Legend of the Jivaro
Song: "Sumac Sorateña (Beautiful Jungle Girl)"
[ listen ]

I got a note yesterday from my friend Sam in the U.K. informing me that Yma Sumac had passed away a few days ago. She was one of my favorites. Sumac's strange and wonderful recordings, made mostly throughout the 1950s, have caught on with U.S. audiences over the years and have been popping up in movies and TV commercials with increasing regularity—especially songs from her terrific set of [mambos].

To read about Yma Sumac's impressive and unusual life and career, click [here]. You can also read the Los Angeles Times obituary for Yma Sumac [here]. For today's posting, I've selected something from one of Yma Sumac's less-accessible albums, but one that, if the notes on the back of the LP are to be believed, has a most impressive history. Each song on the album is described in a short paragraph; these are the notes for "Sumac Sorateña (Beautiful Jungle Girl)": "This is a Bolivian dance of joy and release following a sad ceremony. The singer points to the beautiful and mysterious jungle as a sanctuary from blood and terror. 'People of the Jivaros,' she sings, 'forget your sadness. We do not want to die. Let everyone be happy.'"

And here are the liner notes from the back of the LP:

This album contains the rare plum of authenticity: the songs
of the notorious Jivaro headhunters, learned by Yma Sumac in
the tribesmen's South American mountain-jungle home, and
sung by her in exotic native instrumental settings.

To unearth the Jivaro music—the stories of their ancient songs to tell,
the musical instruments of their culture—Yma Sumac and her husband,
Moises Vivanco, one of the foremost authorities on ancient music,
travelled deep into the headhunters' native territory. There, her mastery
of the Jivaro dialect (she was reared less than one hundred miles from their
land) helped facilitate the research in that strange and obscure society.

In ancient times, the Jivaros, being neighbors of the highly cultured
Incas, were comparatively civilized. However, the advent of the Spanish
conquistadores in the 16th century greatly altered their lives. Their
temples were looted, their treasures stolen, their villages destroyed.
Thus it was that the Jivaros lived in their remote mountainous jungle,
alone and bitter, hating the white man, reverting to a near stone-
age existence, including the practice of head-shrinking, and doing
all in their power to remain alive and free from the influence
of the outside world.

Recently, Yma Sumac and Moises Vivanco, who serves as her composer,
arranger, and conductor, went into the Jivaro country armed with only
trinkets, good intentions, and a tape recorder. Fortunately, the Jivaros
proved friendly and Vivanco was able to tape innumerable native
sounds and melodies to use for reference in the composition of
the songs for this album.

As a personal tribute to Sumac, I decided a few hours ago to have my name legally changed to Moises Vivanco this afternoon.

Yma Sumac
[September 13, 1922 - November 1, 2008]
We will miss you, Yma.