Chuncho

Yma Sumac

Yma Sumac had a vocal range from bass to soprano, spanning more than four octaves (according to some analysts, five full octaves). A normal trained soprano commonly covers three octaves. Sumac’s vocal range reached from her lowest note on B2 to her highest on C#7. Examples of each of her notes are collected here.

Yma Sumac, whose name means “how beautiful” in the indigenous Andean language of Quechua, claimed to be a direct descendant of the last Incan Emperor, Atahualpa. Born in Peru in 1922, she grew up in the Andes where, she said, she would get up early in the morning and go outside to sing with the birds. Even though her musical talent was recognized as a child, there wasn’t enough money to send her to the conservatory, so Yma musically trained and educated herself.

Sumac and her later husband, musician and composer Moisés Vivanco, were among the pioneers of what today is called fusion music and world music—genres that blend styles from various cultural backgrounds and musical forms. Sumac was known for combining traditional Andean music with jazz, mambo, and boogie-woogie.

Sumac developed her own singing technique called a “triple coloratura”—a unique, highly specialized way of mimicking bird-like sounds. It involves a rapid succession of notes like the trill of the birds. Our choice* from her repertoire is the famous song “Chuncho” (meaning “plumage”), which highlights this technique. It appeared on her first studio album, Voice of the Xtabay, in 1953.

*The video imagery is not from the original recording but was added later from footage of the Mexican film Música de siempre, which explains the slightly “off” lip sync movements.