Illustration on the back:
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.
Illustration on the back:
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.
ReplyDeleteGood find!
I'll try it again and see if her 4-octave voice grows on me..
ReplyDeleteWonder if this exotic music genre fascination in the 1950s was an early sign of post WW2 generation boredom with suburbia?
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteon 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....
ReplyDelete