17 September 2008

Yma Sumac Legend of the Jivaro

Very strange album. If you look through old record bins like I do, you quickly see that there was a strong fascination with exotic jungle locales in the 1950s. Hawaiian, Cuban, and South American music was the subject of millions of albums. This one is a bit more exotic than most, being the music of HEADHUNTERS! (See she is looking in horror at a shrunken head)
This is not a record you would listen to very often. Once was enough for me.

Illustration on the back:
Pressed in Scranton, PA. Yma Sumac Wikepedia entry.

5 comments:

dew said...

Yma is one of my favorites! I'm not all that crazy about 50s-era Hawaiian-themed music, but her albums take the cake. They are a little nutty at first, but they grow on you. Great party tracks - and wonderful conversation starter.

Good find!

CityKin said...

I'll try it again and see if her 4-octave voice grows on me..

Anonymous said...

Wonder if this exotic music genre fascination in the 1950s was an early sign of post WW2 generation boredom with suburbia?

Anonymous said...

I had this long playing back in the late fifties. It became warped being left inside a 57 olds'. I finally found it in the internet.Legend of the jivaro brings back many memories.

Eva said...

on dave's comment: absolutely. i'm reading an article about just that: utopias of the tropics: the exotic music of les baxter and yma sumac by rebecca leydon....