“Yma Súmac had a lot of ingratitude from the Peruvians” | INTERVIEW

The admiration that Sylvia Falcon feel for Yma Sumac it goes back to her adolescence, when she heard the album “Mambo” (1955) for the first time and was amazed. At that time, she did not even imagine that she would be able to sing any of the songs that consecrated Súmac. Much less than two decades later, a concert of hers would become the solitary musical tribute for the centenary of her birth. “I had the idea of ​​joining the official activities that I thought were going to take place throughout 2022. But when I returned from a tour of Europe at the end of August, there was no celebration. So it seemed important to me to join forces so that the 100th anniversary of one of the greatest voices in the world does not go unnoticed.”, points out. Thus, in alliance with the Ministry of Culture, this November 24 the Gran Teatro Nacional will become the stage where Falcón will perform 19 representative songs from the discography of the Inca Princess. Under the direction of Pepe Céspedes, the show promises to give each song a different format and atmosphere that will surprise the audience.

“The difficulty of Yma Súmac’s repertoire makes it far from our time, where everything is simpler and you have technology that can refine your voice, for example.”

Sylvia Falcon The soprano gives her opinion on why the music of the Inca Princess has so few Peruvian followers.

Actually, Falcón had already decided to honor Yma Súmac since 2021. The first thing that occurred to him was to reverse those songs with which he discovered his voice. This new “Mambo”, which at the time was the most successful and widespread album by the 50s star, was recorded in Los Angeles under the production of Aníbal Seminario and Rayner Fernández, experts in the large orchestra format that the disk. The original work is framed in full swing of the rhythm created by Dámaso Pérez Prado, but for this modern version it has been given a different sound. “I feel that now the Latin sound has changed a lot. That’s why we’re going a little more towards the sauce. It is a more percussive album, with many wind instruments, such as saxes and trumpets. I can say that this is the most commercial album I have ever recorded”points out the soprano to later confirm that this reversal will be released next December and will also be part of the show “Yma Súmac 100 years”.

The program that will be offered this Thursday will include “Vírgenes del sol” and “El cóndor pasa”, themes that Falcón has performed alongside the French Erwann Tobie (accordion) and Clotilde Trouillaud (harp), with whom he has formed the Trio Puku Puku as a demonstration of the musical contribution that foreign musicians can give to Peruvian music. For his part, the version of “Chuncho” -a piece in which Súmac imitates the song of birds and the roar of a jaguar- will be accompanied by Grimaldo del Solar and his electronic set.

—Since when do you sing songs by Yma Súmac?

I have always somehow inserted some songs from Yma Súmac’s repertoire into my own, but I have never done a concert with just his music. It was now, within the framework of her centenary, that I began to work, from January or December of last year. I never thought that I could approach such a complex repertoire. It has cost me, it is very difficult. The singer must be in full voice, completely healthy, fine to sing, it is challenging and that is where I feel that she takes us a long way because it is due to the difficulty of that repertoire that I feel that she has not had more followers. That makes it far from our time, when everything is simpler, where you have the technology that can refine your voice, for example. The new generations opt for that, for makeup and that’s fine because they are resources, but we are talking about an artist whose talent is exclusively in her voice and she was also self-taught. She really was a freak.

—What is the first song you interpreted from her?

The first Yma song I sang is called “Karawi”, on my first album “Killa Lluqsimun”. That song was a kind of sophisticated arawi. Then, studying a little more, I was able to edit my second album “Inkario”, which is a complete tribute to the coloratura and whose most of the songs belong to Moisés Vivanco, because he was the star composer within this range of repertoire.

—The Puku Puku project, a musical dialogue between France and Peru, is part of this tribute.

Precisely during the August tour in Brittany, we did a presentation at the Madeleine church in Paris, and then seven more in Brittany together with the extraordinary musicians Erwann Tobie and Clotilde Trouillaud. Together with them I put together this proposal, which initially was part of my music because we played other songs. But I inserted two or three songs by Yma and that’s how they got closer to their repertoire. They play “Chuncho”, “Vírgenes del sol”, “El cóndor pasa” from her. It seemed like a good idea to bring them and also show a little of what we experienced on that tour and to be able to share this experience with my compatriots.

—Of all the songs you interpret by Yma Súmac, which would you say is the one that has cost you the most?

One of the most difficult has been “Chuncho”. There he imitates the chirping of birds and also snores like a jaguar. In that song you have to go from very low, go through some solid mids and then go through the treble and treble. Yoma is spectacular. It is one of the most difficult subjects I have ever dealt with. There is another theme, it’s called “Goomba Boomba” where you have to hold the snores that she has. She only recorded this on disk because if we listen to it live we realize that she doesn’t do it because her voice is very exhausted maintaining that register.

Why remake “Mambo” and not another Yma album?

Because it was the most successful and widespread. And because Aníbal and Rayner, who play a big band format, found it very interesting. It was very difficult for me to achieve the sound of this orchestra format because my repertoire is more traditional. Although I have taken licenses, they are still framed in the range of Peruvian music. However, for “Mambo” I wanted this other, more Latin sound, more international, one could say.

—What does the fact that the centenary of Yma Súmac has gone almost unnoticed generate in you, despite what she meant for Peruvian and world music?

It amazes me, but we must take into account that we are talking about a star from the 50s. It is complex that seventy years later, if we have not cultivated or disseminated it here in Peru, we try to revive that admiration that some of us have for his work. . But I do think that she had enough ingratitude on the part of the Peruvians. The fame that she achieved outside the country compensates a little for everything that we could not give her. I feel very close to her because she is a Peruvian woman, an artist, she grew up in a very difficult environment and was a pioneer of an unprecedented genre for the world such as the exotic or the Andean lyric. I work a lot around her style, her art, her costumes, everything she meant. It seems to me a great reference for national artists who try to build their own project that dialogues with what is ours and has a high international standard.. It is important because she is a great ambassador of Peru. I feel that there is an awakening to recognize all this and I think that the singers who cultivate her repertoire have contributed something.