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Inca Music: Yma Sumac, the Castafiore Inca

      See also:

      Condor Condor, Kuntur Kuntur

 

    

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Yma Súmac (born in 1922), is a Peruvian singer with one of the most spectacular ranges and styles ever heard (an amazing four-octave range). She mixes Hollywood pizzazz with indigenous Incan songs splendidly.

Yma Sumac, from Ima Shumaq, Quechua for "beautiful flower" or "how beautiful!", was born in Cajamarca, Peru as Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo. Sumac was said to have been a descendant of Inca kings, an Incan princess that was one of the Golden Virgins.

El Condor Pasa is a typical Inca dance, based on authentic Incan folk melodies. Around 1916, Peruvian composer Daniel Alomia Robles notated this popular traditional melody and used it as the basis for an instrumental suite. The English Lyrics, 'If I could, I surely would' words, are by Paul Simon (Simon & Garfunkel)!

 

See also: Yma Sumac, The Castafiore Inca, Gopher Mambo, Machu Picchu, the Secret of the Incas, Tumpa, the Secret of the Incas, Chuncho, the Forest Creatures, Malambo #1, La Pampa y la Puna

 

 


 

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Last updated: February 13, 2008