Yma Sumac (/ˈiːmə ˈsuːmæk/; September 13, 1922 – November 1, 2008) was a Peruvian soprano. In the 1950s, she was one of the most famous proponents of exotica music.
She became an international success based on her extreme vocal range, which was said to be "well over five octaves" or otherwise was claimed to span over five octaves, at the peak of her singing career. Yma Sumac recorded an extraordinarily wide vocal range of slightly over four octaves from E2 to B♭7 (approximately 107Hz to 3,7kHz). She was able to sing notes in the low baritone register as well as notes above the range of an ordinary soprano. Both low and high extremes can be heard in the song Chuncho (The Forest Creatures) (1953). She was also apparently able to sing in an eerie "double voice". In 1954 classical composer Virgil Thomson described her 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".
Yma Sumac - Bo mambo
El cóndor pasa (Huayno) - Yma Sumac
Yma Sumac - Magic
Yma Sumac - Vírgenes del Sol 1944
YMA SUMAC - "Taita Inti" (Original Short Clip From The 1950s)
YMA SUMAC "Ataypura, Chunco y Tumpa" (Giaguaro 006)
Yma Sumac - Goomba Bomba
YMA SUMAC in Hollywood, 1964 Inca Love Song & Earthquake (Tumpa) complete
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