Customer Reviews

Legend of the Sun Virgin

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this album in 1954 as a 10" LP, and still rate it as one of my all time favorites. Yma is not for everyone. My wife has had to listen to it for almost that long and her one word review is 'caterwauling'. For most of Yma's other albums, I can't completely disagree with her. But Sun Virgen hits me just right. It's good music and rates right up there with Belafonte and Cats.

Yma Sumac has one of the most outrageous voices in the 20th Century. Her range is dizzying.... her shrill crys and hoots are borne on the wings of exotic birds in heat! Her no holds barred approach to lounge music is unprecidented even today these may years since her career ended.

This album had been accused of being too Hollywood like. Mambo has been declared as the best of Yma's albums. I always have to decide between the two, but Legend wins mostly because of the fun Zana, why it isn't on the Ultimate album is questionable.
Yma Sumac has a voice like no other. She is a dazzling singer, who has reached octaves that no one has ever come close to. Whenever I decide to show people music of the bizarre I pull out Yma along with Mrs. Miller and Little Marcy.
I found Yma once in a record store under easy listening. She is in her own category so I can see the mistake. But she isn't easy listening. She's what I play to wake me up in the morning.

In this unbelievably lush and haunting CD, Miss Sumac unfolds the saga, in song, of an Inca Princess and Virgin of the Sun who falls in love with a mere mortal and is cast out to wander the mountains singing of her love. The songs are in Quechua, language of the ancient Incas and Spanish. One does not have to know either of these languages, though, as her vocal artistry surpasses all boundaries, even that of mortality. This can be viewed as the companion album to ' Voice of the Xtabay', which is also chilling and unforgettable.

What a hoot! She looks so deliciously exotic, with a voice to match. I first heard her on a mambo fever cd. The songs were Taki Rari and Malambo. Her high notes on one of those songs sound like a strange night bird we have here in Australia called the Storm Bird (Indian Koel). This cd is so kitsch and relentlessly beautiful that it always lifts me up to the lofty summits of Andean mystery whenever I feel low. Get it!

I have always been impressed by this woman's range - ever since her first record was pressed. Don't know what the "true" story is behind her short career but I do remember that she was promoted as an Inca Princess...whatever - I have always enjoyed ALL of her albums because of her vocal abilities. I believe that somewhere I might still have the original 'records' but I am so glad to now be able to add the CD's to my library.

I would strongly recommend anyone to just listen and then listen again. There is no doubt that everyone will be impressed.

When all the other 8-year-old kids on my block were listening to The Beatles and The Beach Boys, I had quite a different preference. Maybe it was because I spent so much time watching old movies on TV -- I was exposed to the best film scores ever written, as well as a wide range of wonderful incidental music. When my mom bought this album, I immediately appropriated it and added it to my stack of favorites, along with PORTS OF PARADISE, THE KING AND I (the movie soundtrack rather than the broadway), and the soundtrack for LA VOYAGE EN BALLON. LEGEND OF THE SUN VIRGIN Is exotic and beautiful, a doorway to another world. And Yma's voice is perfect, incomparable -- you'll be amazed by her range. She holds her own against violins, flutes, bongos, and an enthusiastic string section.

This one goes in the "Exotica" category. If that's your cup of tea, sample the tracks on this page and give Yma a whirl. She's wonderful.

Yma Sumac's range is impressive but I find her music boring.
After listening to 2 or 3 songs----they all sound the same.
After the 4th it all sounds like noise to me.
I think of Sumac as a novelty.