Oh Yma! How sad am I to know that after 86 years on this planet you decided to take off to the afterlife and I never got to see you live and in person even once! Boo hoo!For those of you who have no idea who Yma Sumac is, I could probably not tell you in greater detail than our friends at the NY Times Obit department, so I'll leave it to them. What I will say is to hear the incredibly strange 4-octave voice of this avant-garde Peruvian chanteuse is to believe it. With a sound like Ricky Ricardo's freaky sister, her albums of mambos and cha chas were the perfect soundtrack to throwing a dozen mai tais with friends, you know, just before going on a date with a witch doctor or throwing yourself into an erupting volcano.
Still interested? Well why not download her songs yourself for free from this incredibly obscure Russian website? Ah yes, I knew you'd like that. While you're there be sure to check out the extensive selection of songs by A-ha (how many singles did they have?) and "AC and DC". Hurrah for lack of copywright.
