"New" Yma Sumac Book Now Available!!!

Finally, a definitive history of one of the world’s most beloved musical treasures. Nicholas E Limansky has written a bold and fascinating book – an exhaustive study on Yma Sumac - the Queen of exotica.

Check it out................

http://www.amazon.com/Yma-Sumac-Art-Behind-Legend/dp/0979097290/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209391652&sr=1-1

This book is HIGHLY recommended!!!

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

Great. Thanks for the info.

Hey Jeff,
Whatever happened to that Italian book on Exotica? Is that out yet?

On 2008-05-19 09:48, bigbrotiki wrote:
Hey Jeff,
Whatever happened to that Italian book on Exotica? Is that out yet?

Not sure. I heard it doesn't have any pictures! :-?

Nick's book is AWESOME!!!!! It has tons of info plus pictures and you can order a "bonus" CD direct from the publisher with even more cool photos and info!!! :)

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

re that book..I did an interview with Nick L this week on my podcast....www.cocktailnation.podomatic.com
Interesting guy and a great read.

K

On 2008-08-15 22:42, koopkooper wrote:
re that book..I did an interview with Nick L this week on my podcast....www.cocktailnation.podomatic.com
Interesting guy and a great read.

K

Cool! :)

Thanks for the heads up!!

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

book is on my christmas wish list, thanks for the heads up. have a Yma Sumac lp signed by the queen herself that i picked up a few years back. At the event, no one seemed to know who Yma was, so i got it real cheap. I was shocked!

Very cool! I'll have to peruse this one - she truly is a priestess... at least in her genre, if not literally. :wink:

Jimzip :D

This book is VILE. The author does not know Yma Sumac, and in fact is an OPERA critic. The "positive" reviews you may see on Amazon, for this outrageously priced book, are written by those mentioned (if not praised) in the book. The rest of us are horrified. There are deeply personal things in this debacle, despite interviewees being told it was a mere "CAREER OVERVIEW." So we all talked quite loosely, only to find EVERY word we said printed in this thing!

Sumac's voice is critiqued NOTE BY NOTE, with the word "stacatti" insanely overused throughout. This WILL NOT INTEREST the Tiki community, and I know you all very well. I KNOW what you like about Sumac, as I am her personal assistant and makeup man and webmaster of her site. I met many of you at Hukilau in Florida. This book will DESTROY all of your Exotica fantasies and you will come away from it depressed, and minus $30. I read it in a hotel in San Diego a few months back, and felt "dark" and "invaded" for DAYS afterwards.

Miss Sumac is desperately ill right now and will not be recovering. This ghastly book COULD NOT have come at a more cruel time period. If she were to read it, it would kill her, this I assure you, as it dismantles everything she loved and was proud of. And some of the people she had arguments with or parted ways with for a short while, were interviewed OVER A DECADE AGO. The book leaves you thinking "that was that" when in fact three of the interviewees went on to be quite close to her.

She is compared ENDLESSLY to an opera performer, and CRUCIFIED for her alleged "kitsch" and "exotica" (which I happen to know you all appreciate very much). The book has no business being plugged on this site, of ALL sites.

I know this woman very well. She is like a very close grandmother to me. I am not a sycophant OR an idiot, when I tell you, SOME of Yma Sumac's "myths" are NOT myths at all! I have seen her calm wild animals with a certain look in her face or her voice, and in Macchu Picchu (in 2006) a small bird flew directly to her, sang to her, waited till she responded and then flew away. I have this on video! She is not a "regular" woman!

This book knows only what came from 1000 newspaper concert reviews and interviews with a few older gay men with very wild imaginations and a flair for grande embellishment. ANY of us could have "written" this. Any and ALL assumptions about her private life are incorrect, as well as certain alleged "facts" mentioned. I dog-eared the factual errors throughout and could hardly close the book afterwards!

Wait a few years. You'll get the facts---the good with the bad, the often strange truths and a deeper understanding of the complex lady behind the legend. IN FACT---she is not so different from what you see on stage or the two documentaries about her. Sometimes it seems as though only her attire and makeup are different! She is beautiful, ferocious, sweet, imperious and innocent (in many ways). I am sure most fans have already gathered this, if they have met her for even a few minutes and, in fact, can probably detect most of this in the music.

I have learned from this book, how much we can't accept all that we read as "fact." Famous people's bios are best written by friends, [close]family or co-workers. Seriously. I have restrained from writing a review on Amazon, only because they do not allow foul language on there, and I am quite prone to it, when highly disgusted.

Why did she not write her own biography? Because she thought she would live forever (or at least to age 120!) and kept putting it off. With a heavy heart, I can assure you, she will be with us but a short while longer. She turns 86 on September 13th and is not well.

Your kindness and support have always meant the world to her, I want you to know that. We spent joyous years going through fanmail, gifts, photos and records sent from all over the world. Her face truly lit up then. That is the image I hope to keep of her in my mind and heart.

Sincerely, Damon Devine

You can send her a card or whatever you like at:

Yma Sumac
4013 W. Sunset Blvd suite #8
Los Angeles, CA
90029

[ Edited by: Mrdevine 2008-09-06 23:36 ]

Well I beg to differ Damon. I have read the book and interviewed the author on 'The Cocktail Nation" podcast and I think that Nick did wonderful job.
Nick is a fan of Yma Sumac and would never do anything to hurt her reputation.
I encourage all fans to pick up the book, I promise you will enjoy it.

Koop Kooper

http://www.cocktailnation.podomatic.com

I've heard good things about the book. Any time I read a bio (which are admittedly not my favorite genre) I assume that the author has his/her own take on the subject, just as the bio's inevitable detractors will.

I'm also thick-skinned enough to have my beliefs challenged. Anyone who posts around here is used to people viewing exotica as kitsch. Big deal - less competition for seeking out rare vinyl. :wink:

Are there any better Yma bios available?

To me this is a fascinating example of how subjective ANYBODY'S account of history -be it a person's or of a place or events- ultimately are.

Damon Devine, as intelligent and well-read as he seems to be, is so close to the issue that he obviously cannot be objective, while the book's author, Nick L., might have benefitted from some of that inside view. But I as a writer understand that one shies away from individuals who identify with a subject matter to such a degree that any hint of criticism is taken as a painful insult. No living being is perfect, and part of the flair of Miss Sumac is that she was a temperamental and tempestuous performer. This invariably must have led to conflicts, and then to conflicting accounts of these, the views of which will certainly differ. But that is the nature of things and has to be accepted. I am weary of one-sided adulation of a person (such as in the Don The Beachcomber books, for example), yet on the other hand I am not for mean-spirited dirt slinging either, and rather expect a certain degree of respect and tact when writing about a person -which, common sense tells me, anybody who goes to such lengths with a project as the above mentioned book must possess for his subject.

So I can only hope that the untruths and fact crimes committed in the book are not as dramatic as perceived by Mr Devine, and that Yma in her last days will be able, unknowingly or not, to add this work as another jewel of appreciation to her crown, which I am certain it is intended to be.

Dear Mr. Devine,

You sound like a very angry man. Your words were very harsh and certainly uncalled for.

First of all, the positive review that I wrote on Amazon came from the heart and I was not praised or mentioned in the book.

Nick Limansky did not write a book to “kill her” as you so gently put it, but to celebrate her life and her accomplishments. Whether you agree or disagree with this exhaustive research it is a deep appreciation of her life’s work and as Sven stated “a jewel of appreciation to her crown.”

This book will interest not only the Tiki community, for the obvious Exotica connection, but to anyone interested in the life history of a true Inca Princess.

This Saturday, September 13th, is Yma Sumac’s birthday. Let’s celebrate her life and her legacy not with rants of hatred towards a book but with dignity and grace befitting a true American treasure.

Sincerely,
Jeff