Voice of the Xtabay

Capitol released Voice of the Xtabay in 1950 as Peruvian soprano Yma Sumac’s first studio album. Les Baxter produced and arranged alongside Moisés Vivanco and John Rose; early formats included 78 sets and boxed 45s before the familiar LP shape.

Capitol billed Sumac with an extreme vocal range and an Incan-royalty press story. The music mixes Andean-inspired melodies, orchestra, and percussion on pieces such as “Taita Inty (Virgin of the Sun God),” “Xtabay,” and “Ataypura!” It sold in the millions without depending on a conventional pop radio single.

Instrumental exotica rarely puts a voice this theatrical in the mix. Growls to birdsong over Latin-Incan rhythm charts make it a different tool from Denny or Baxter’s wordless travelogues — use it when the bar can handle a lead vocal.