There was no dame like Amy! I mean Uma! I mean Yma! Whatever!

She was the Peruvian version of Sonja Henie--a novelty act, but talented. Drag queens today still do her!!!

Yma Sumac's voice was a gift from God. Thank goodness for the movie SECRET OF THE INCAS, which apart from being "insanely fabulous" shows off the exotic eccentricity of the amazing Yma Sumac. This fantastic movie also stars Charlton Heston as the real Indiana Jones. I made a website devoted to it, with hundreds of colour photos from the movie, articles on Yma Sumac, plus the entire movie is available to view in all its over-the-top glory.

www.secretoftheincas.co.uk

I love the music of Yma Sumac more with each passing year! To me, it is timeless and defies category. One could perhaps say it's folkloric, indigenous, Latin, pop, operatic, and experimental. Some have also found it comical and campy. When traveling and meeting different people from around the world, whether from Havana, Paris, Caracas, Buenos Aires, Milan, Tokyo, Moscow, even elderly Jews in Florida, I cannot think of one place where people didn’t know and love her music. It was considered high culture to listen to her remarkably unique 5 octave vocal range, on one’s high-fi. More over, I have found a great way to break the ice and find common ground when on foreign soil, especially with gay people, has been to bring up Yma Sumac. I'm so happy that I was able to send her a fan letter last year and receive a personally autographed 8 x 10 Hollywood glamour still. I remember, in 1987, she did a comeback engagement at The Ballroom whose opening night was attended by the glitterati and top French fashion designers of that time. She was seen hanging out at Patricia Fields on 8th Street and drag queen Perfidia upon winning a look-alike contest, (judged by Yma herself!!) made Yma Sumac her regular shtick at La Escuelita for more than a season. Check out La Sumac’s website: http://www.yma-sumac.com/index.htm where you can sample some of her music, read a recent interview, and get a sense of this woman who was one of the rare self made artists of integrity and devotion to her craft that truly and earnestly deserves the title "DIVA." I love you! You are eternal!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yma_Sumac

Wityh all due respect to "Lala" above, Yma Sumac was anything but a "novelty act." She played in huge opera houses with 122-piece orchestras, Carnegie Hall, Albert Royal Hall in the UK, filled the Hollywood Bowl twice and played for Russian royalty for 6 months (she had only intended to stay two weeks!). She had a 4 1/2 octave voice, and in Peru, people slept in the STREETS for days in advance to catch a glimpse of her when she returned to visit. The Grammy's intended her for a Lifetime Achievement Award this year, but she was too ill to accept, and then of course passed away Nov 1st. Quite a novelty....

I'm 54 this moment and got my 1st Yma Sumac LP when I was 15 orso...I'd swapped it for 2 LPs of Mahalia Jackson! This first Sumac LP was Voice of the Xtabay and I immediately was attracted to the exotic, mysterious music and ofcourse this VOICE.....During the years I've built up a large collection of her records and meanwhile own also the very hard to find Sumac-items.Vinyl records, CD's but also other memorabilia like magazine clippings, a concertposter( signed for me by Miss Sumac in 1990),photo's, two books ,etc.Being a fan of certain "ol'skool"-divas , I'm proud to actually have met Miss Sumac once and now, like others, she's passed away....What's left is her legacy , the records and 2 films. She was a remarcable woman and although part of what Hollywood made of her past was not true what cannot be denied is that she was a Peruvian woman- Inca descendent or not- with an incredible voice , hard to match so far.Our former Dutch Queen Juliana and her husband Prince Bernhard were fans of Miss sumac too !

I'm 54 this moment and got my 1st Yma Sumac LP when I was 15 orso...I'd swapped it for 2 LPs of Mahalia Jackson! This first Sumac LP was Voice of the Xtabay and I immediately was attracted to the exotic, mysterious music and ofcourse this VOICE.....During the years I've built up a large collection of her records and meanwhile own also the very hard to find Sumac-items.Vinyl records, CD's but also other memorabilia like magazine clippings, a concertposter( signed for me by Miss Sumac in 1990),photo's, two books ,etc.Being a fan of certain "ol'skool"-divas , I'm proud to actually have met Miss Sumac once and now, like others, she's passed away....What's left is her legacy , the records and 2 films. She was a remarcable woman and although part of what Hollywood made of her past was not true what cannot be denied is that she was a Peruvian woman- Inca descendent or not- with an incredible voice , hard to match so far.Our former Dutch Queen Juliana and her husband Prince Bernhard were fans of Miss sumac too !