The truly great singer Yma Sumac died on Saturday, November 1, 2008 at an assisted-living facility in Silver Lake, CA.  She had been diagnosed with colon cancer in February.  Her funeral was on November 8, “one week to the minute of her passing the week before,” according to her official web site.

Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo was born in Peru on September 13, 1922, probably in the village of Ichocán, Cajamarca or nearby.  As she broke into show business in South America, Zoila adopted the stage name of Imma Sumack (sometimes spelled Ymma Sumack and Ima Sumack).  With her husband, composer and band leader Moisés Vivanco, she moved to New York City in 1946.  In 1950, Yma Sumac signed a deal with Capitol Records.

Between 1943 and 1971, she recorded 10 LPs-worth of music, plus an early 10-inch 78rpm record and as many as 20 miscellaneous tracks recorded for Odeon Records at the beginning of her career.  Her last released song was “I Wonder” (from the film Sleeping Beauty) on the compilation Stay Awake (A&M, 1987), Hal Wilner’s collection of Disney movie songs reinterpreted by the likes of Tom Waits, Sun Ra, Ken Nordine, and others.

Yma Sumac’s remarkable singing voice spanned four and a half octaves (though her publicity tended to round it upward slightly), and is instantly recognizable as it is unique.  Yet even as her music exploited this range to its fullest — with contagious gusto — Sumac’s style was as much about discipline and technique as it was pure prowess.  Somehow, amidst the showbiz machinery of the Exotica fad, like a John Ford-style Hollywood auteur, she and Vivanco crafted some of the most astonishing, unique, and sometimes pretty much divine vocal music in human history.