freak show
La Cieca (not pictured) is delighted to note that the delightful and learned Nicholas Limansky (also not pictured) will grace the stage of the next Vocal Record Collectors Society meeting to explore the controversial topic of extended or “freak” sopranos. The main topic of his talk will of course be the Peruvian songbird Yma Sumac, but he will include other voices of this controversial Fach. Details of time and location for the VRCS meeting may be found here. Nick is of course familiar to the cher public for his notable tome Yma Sumac: The Art Behind the Legend
Speaking of which, here’s an example of the Sumac legend pushing its way in front of the art: a temperament-based walkout on an evening when the “Princess of the Andes” was in terrific voice!
As another diva would say:
“Sonno vecchia, sonno bruta, sonno grassa, ma sonno anchora la Sumac.”
You laugh, I no sing.
Is it me, or does our beloved Cieca resembles the Peruvian diva in her youth?
I could sing “Five Bottles of Mambo” *tomorrow*- it’s a question of color and tessitura.
Is it true that Carlos Kleiber once walked out of a VPO rehearsal because he thought the musicians were making fun of him?
From the resident pedantic spellcheck :
“Sono vecchia, sono brutta, sono grassa, ma sono ancora la Sumac”
My excuse is that I was brought up in the French system where every mistake has to be corrected on pain of death.
My apologies to the more relaxed anglo-saxon contingent
If you really must post a tedious spelling flame, don’t forget to run a spell check on your glass house first: “Anglo-Saxon” takes upper casing.
What is odd to me is that while she walks out on a titter from the audience, La Sumac doesn’t seem the least bit flustered by her host’s ridiculous getup, which would appear to make a parody of the whole event.
I also made another mistake as “spell check” should really be two words, as you correctly typed.
I am duly chastened and contrite.
Veuillez m’excuser de vous avoir déplu…
Actually, in her day, she was quite unique.
“Sounds of the Xtabay” was a hit album way back when…
Believe it or don’t, I saw Yma in Follies as Heidi in Long Beach, CA in about 1990 and she was terrific. And believe it or don’t, Dorothy Lamour was Hattie (singing “Broadway Baby”). Juliet Prowse, Susan Johnson (“Who’s That Woman?”), and Karen Morrow (“I’m Still Here”) were also in the cast. It was quite an event.