Cuba to honor Peruvian singer Yma Súmac

 HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 8 (ACN) On December 11, a gala to be held at Havana’s Ignacio Cervantes concert hall with Cuban singers and musicians will pay tribute to the mythical Yma Súmac, the Peruvian singer and Inca princess who conquered the world with her prodigious voice range and combined like no other her country’s traditional music with Caribbean and foreign rhythms.

According to Yma―whose real name was Zoila Emperatriz Chávarry and whose centennial was celebrated worldwide in 2022―she learned to sing by listening to the chirping of birds and the sounds of nature.

As Yma Súmac (“The Most Beautiful” in Quechua language), she delighted audiences around the world with a mix of Andean melodies and genres like jazz and mambo, boasting a vocal range of 4-5 octaves (opera singers reach an average range of 2-3, according to specialists).

Titled "Yma Súmac, Ruiseñor de los Andes" and organized as part of the celebrations for the Bicentennial of the Independence of Peru (1821-2024), the gala will be sponsored by the Embassy of Peru in Cuba, the Office of the Historian of the City, and CMBF Radio Musical Nacional.