Yma Sumac Live in Moscow 1960

Yma Sumac

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"^[2] or otherwise was claimed to span over five octaves, at the peak of her singing career.^[3][4] Yma Sumac recorded an extraordinarily wide vocal range of slightly over four octaves from E₂ to B♭₇ (approximately 107Hz to 3,7kHz).^[5] 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".^[6]

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".^[7] 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".^{[8]
Source: Wilkipedia.}

Sumac signs an autograph after a concert in 1953.
Background information
Birth name	Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo
Also known as	Yma Sumac "The Peruvian Songbird"
Born	(1922-09-13)September 13, 1922 Callao,[1] Peru
Died	November 1, 2008(2008-11-01) (aged 86) Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Exotica, world, mambo, lounge
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1942–1997