Yma Sumac - Early Yma Sumac: The Imma on CD

Description

Early Yma Sumac the Imma Sumack sessions presents, for the first time, all of Yma Sumac s early recordings from 1943 at the very beginning of her long career. Known for both her wide vocal range and vocal acrobats, capable of stunning international audiences with flights of intricate, multi-octave coloratura, few remember today that she had made recordings before she arrived in the U.S. and recorded her famous cuts for Capitol Records from 1950 to 1959. In these early 1943 recordings where she often mimicked accompanying instruments, there is an appealing, sweet and innocent manner of singing that was lost after her arrival in America. There is a purity and simplicity of singing that was not associated with the witchery she displayed on later recordings. Some of these early songs remained in her performing repertoire for decades but, without exception, the original beauty and simplicity of presentation and singing heard here were lost in subsequent re-arrangements. Although new arrangements were often clever and more inventive in the orchestration and Yma s dynamic, imaginative singing, after hearing the original versions, one misses the cool, stark impact of Yma s voice suspended over authentic native instruments. It is difficult to describe in words the charming beauty and extraordinary appeal of these early recordings. For such a young and inexperienced performer, her tonal maturity is as surprising as her technical assurance. The operatic fullness of her voice and the nonchalant abandon with which she attacks difficult coloratura give a peculiar distinctiveness to the songs. This aura is enhanced by the juxtaposition of Yma s cultured voice and its European-sounding virtuosity with simple, primitive arrangements of ethnic material. The most impressive thing about these recordings, however, is Yma s uninhibited joy of singing: it is natural and unaffected. From the African folk lament, Payande, which is the most exquisite of all Yma s recordings ever, accompanied only by guitar and sung completely within her lush, mezzo-soprano register, to the well known Virgenes del Sol where the sound of her voice is so pure that, at first, one mistakes her voice for the flute, the clearness and purity of Yma's magnificent voice is immediately apparent.This new release of all known sides was fully re-mastered from transcriptions of the original 78 rpm disks and contains all eighteen known sides by Yma Sumac with several others from the same recording sessions by the instrumental soloists and vocalists of the Conjunto Folklórico Peruano de Moisés Vivanco and all are required listening for any fan.