Yma Sumac
Known for her impressive four-octave vocal range and her quirky costumes, Zoila
Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo (born on September 13, 1922), aka Yma
Sumac, was a Peruvian soprano and a lead exponent of lounge and exotica music
during her heyday in the 50s. The youngest of six children, she was born and
raised in Ichocán, an indigenous village in Northern Peru. Sumac was also
rumored to be an Incan princess whose ancestry traced all the way back to last
Incan Emperor Atahualpa, a claim that the Peruvian government supported in 1946.
As a child, Sumac started singing by t...
