Legend of the Jivaro

Yma Sumac – Legend of the Jivaro
Capitol Records T770, 1957
Conducted by Moises Vivanco

A shrunken head speaks to the imagination. It represents the fear for the most unruly tribes of the world. Like the big human cooking pots from Africa, cannibalism in New Guinea, shrunken heads became part of the folklore of the Western world. The custom of shrunken heads was practiced by the tribes of the northeastern Amazon forest, including areas of Peru. I've seen a shrunken head once in a museum and that image certainly became etched in my brain. A year ago I found a postcard with a shrunken head image on it at a thrift store and now I own a record with a shrunken head on it. It is Legend of the Jivaro by Yma Sumac. If it's a real shrunken head hanging in front of Yma Sumac I do not know. The use of the word authenticity in the first sentence of the liner notes is usually a red flag. The claims made in the first paragraph of this text is that Sumac learned the songs from the notorious headhunters and that her voice is accompanied by "exotic native instrumental settings". The latter is certainly not true as the instrumentation is mostly the common western orchestra, occasionally embellished with some pan flutes or conga drums. Sumac herself was considered by many a hoax in the day (the 1950s) as it was rumored that she was a certain Amy Camus (Yma Sumac spelled backwards) who was born in Brooklyn. But her persona was authentic, she was born as Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo in Peru, and by the Peruvian government officially considered an Inca princess with direct ancestry to Atuhualpa. Hoax or not, she certainly had a magnificent voice that could reach up to five octaves. I selected two songs of hers to share with you today: Wanka (The Seven Winds), from the Legend of the Jivaro album, and Chuncho from Inca Taqui (Chants of the Incas). At the same time I was preparing this post I also painted Sumac's portrait to include in my Top 100 blog:
 http://berrystop100.blogspot.com/

The song Chuncho is found on my list The 100 Greatest Recordings Ever at #41.