Normally the musical icons we write about on Raices have passed on, so I was happy (yet surprised) to find that a favorite of mine who I thought had left this world is in fact still with us. Yma Sumac, a Peruvian singer with one of the world's most striking voices has been, in recent years (much like Bossa Nova artists) relegated to providing background noise to trendy martini bars and bachelor pads.

It's not uncommon to walk into a tiki-themed bar in San Francisco or New York and hear one of her recordings. But this type of "exotification" was actually the biggest selling point for her throughout her career. Billed as the "Inca Princess", she was Hollywood's (and men's) ideal of what an Incan woman should be. Unfortunately this has made many view her as more of a cult icon than the amazing (4-5 octave range) singer that she is. Some highlights from Yma's Wikipedia entry:

Yma Sumac (born in Ichocán, Cajamarca, Perú September 10, 1922), also earlier spelled Ymma Sumak (quechua translation of "pretty flower") or Imma Sumack is a noted vocalist of Peruvian origin. In the 1950s she was one of the most famous proponents of exotica music. She is remembered chiefly for her amazing voice, which at the time, covered a range of four octaves. She is (with some controversy) credited with singing the highest note recorded by the female voice (surpassing Erna Sack) in the track "Chuncho" in one of her LPs (Inca Taqui 1953).

Yma Sumac may have been born on September 10, 1922 in Ichocán, Cajamarca, Peru as Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo. Other dates mentioned in her various biographies range from 1921 to 1929. Some sources [1] claim that she was not born in Ichocá, but in a nearby village or possibly in Lima, and that her family owned a ranch in Ichocá where she spent most of her early life. It is also claimed that she is an Incan princess directly descended from Atahualpa. The story that she was actually born as Amy Camus (which is Yma Sumac read backwards) in Brooklyn or Canada seems to be a hoax.

Tango isn't necessarily the most popular music among Americans in my age group. I think I'm one of the few people I know who realizes that tango isn't just a dance involving a lot of fishnet stockings and sultry gazes. Tango is poetry, and in my opinion is the musical genre that comes closest to being more literature than entertainment. Its lyrics speak of the culture of which it was born -- that of the arrabales of Buenos Aires -- mysterious to the rest of us and beloved by its sons and daughters for their beautiful grimness and for embodying the porteño spirit in a code that only a native son can truly understand.

Tango has had many, many incredible poets -- alas, too many to name. But one that has to come to mind when talking about the spirit of the arrabal; of the poverty that shapes art, the despair that begets the sublime, is Eladia Blásquez.

I am not a musician, but as a different kind of artist, music is very important to me. The idea for Raíces comes from that; and the fact that I found that many of the Latino musicians that have most impacted my life are largely unknown by the US Latino population.

One of my most cherished artists is the late Elis Regina. An icon in Brazil, she is mostly known here in the United States because of her bossa nova recordings and collaborations with Antonio Carlos Jobim. This is unfortunate, because her range went way beyond bossa nova; indeed, some of her more inspiring music is much darker, with her voice giving life to the work of some of Brazil's most talented poets, dealing with the topics of social complacency, politics, hopelessness and of course, love.