Absolutely astounding. She was 65 when she made this appearance. How many singers are still performing at this level at that age? Truly a force of nature.

She was indeed, She had an absolutely unreal, out-of-this-world voice. This is your real-life Fifth Element Diva.

THE INCA PRINCESS OF PERU. THE BEST VOICE OF THE WORLD.

she was 65 here, when she was in her 20's and 30's her voice was so high and powerful. I felt sad when she passed away.

I've loved her since I was 13 in the early 50's and met her ln San Diego at a military bash and had the honor of dancing with her and Martha Ray. A very wonderful lady. May she rest in peace and know that she left a great following.

Yma Sumac es una diva de divas, lo mas grande que ha tenido el Perú, Gracias donde quieras que estes.

When I was young my father made his kids sit in the living room on Sunday afternoons and listen to classical music and read the encyclopedia! We didn't even have a TV when other families were getting them. My father loved Yma Sumac and we had to listen to her "nightengale voice" but as kids we really did not understand or appreciate her voice. But it did get us wondering about the Incas and the Amazon. So it is great fun to find her recordings on the internet now.

Toda una dama, que admirable es esta mujer, no sólo tiene una voz increíble sino el porte que lleva. Como ella, pocas.

Great singer. She came to visit Peru few years before her dead, the government there gave her many awards as she deserved because her voice was truly a miracle !!

The name of this song es Ataypura. Great Yma Sumac Viva el Peru!

she seemed a very lovely person, humble and grateful...glad i found her c:

As a Peruvian Im proud that Ima Sumac is considered one of The Greatest Voices of all Time.

I got an education from Google today. I'm 61 and I've never heard of her. I've listened to some of her pieces and she' s amazing. Never heard anything like it.

Gracias profesor de apreciación musical, por enseñarnos que en Perú teníamos a un gran talento que se llama Ymac sumac. Los Peruanos te amamos, llevar el nombre de nuestro País en alto. :D

Que maravilla!! No la conocía. Entre aquí por recomendación de KZfaq... Tal vez porque mi padre me inculco el amor por la musica y oigo mucho folclore... Hoy el ya no vive pero cada tanto lo siento cerca escuchando bellas melodías como las de esta mujer maravillosa. Que bien represento a su país (Perú) y a latinoamérica. Saludos desde la Patagonia 💖😍

She goes to the stage and inspires so much respect and elegance. Such an incredible voice and talent ♥️😮♥️

Lo mejor de peru sin duda alguna.....Que arte de nuestro maravilloso peru!

se me rompieron los cristales , tremenda voz

She had such a beautiful spirit in life. A profound treasure and so generous as well.

Hi! My name is Julia. I am a high school/college student from Chicago in the United States. Peru fascinates me. I would be so grateful to speak with someone from and living in the country to learn about the food, culture, & ways of daily life. We would practice English as well. Thank you.

I have loved Yma Sumac for twenty years yet I had never known she appeared on Letterman's show until accidentally finding this video here. Thanks SO MUCH for posting!

You would NEVER see anything this cool on Letterman anymore!

When she was younger, she sang this in a Charleton Heston movie, "Secret of The Incas," where Charleton Heston was "Indiana Jones of the 1950's". Cool movie! Yma was smoking!

That octave range is amazing! True talent. I'm glad Google had the pop-up today.

marvelous Yma Sumac. Beautifull princess

years later looking at this..im teary eyed

Her Capitol albums still sound fantastic. They have not dated at all. She aged beautifully. She could be quite imperious and worked her musicians hard but she was also very witty and enjoyed life. In later years she worked with bands composed of young rock musicians and they loved working with this living legend with a truly unique talent.

Toda una diosa Yma Sumac!!! Hermosa voz!!!! Miles de besos!!!

Never even heard of this amazing woman until today... What beauty and grace she had... I can believe that she was a true princess...

She was singing in a five octave range well before Mariah Carey.

wow! what a voice...... god rest miss sumac. audience there are so lucky to hear this woman sing live.

LA PRINCESA INKA.....UNA LEYENDA PERUANA.

I Love Yma Sumac!!!

UNA HERMOSA VOZ ,Y FUE PERUANA.

alucinante YMA SUMAC...la voz mas espectacular que he oido en mi vida,la mas grande diva peruana de todos los tiempos...famosa en varias partes del mundo,sin embargo muy poco conocida en su propio pais (peru)aqui muchos la conocen,pero la gran mayoria no sabe de ella,y que hacen las autoridades o a quien corresponda difundir su musica su legado,su leyenda,y que sea conocida y reconocida en su real dimension,aqui se valora a artistas que no tienen ni la cuarta parte de calidad que YMA SUMAC

Aw man, Yma, what a total genius of wonderfulness.

Cajamarquina como mis Padres. Orgullo 🇵🇪 PERUANO.

Yma is such a lovely candid lady. I love it. Meanwhile David is an example of...nvm. Yma killing the notes at her age is just Amazing!

Nemogu naći dovoljno lijepih rijeći za tvoju umjetnost pjevanja Yma bravooo

Mis ojos estan llenos de lagrimas escuchando a esta diva,

Хоть я и русский человек,но я ее обожаю!Браво,легенда!

great performance from the one and only Yma Sumac!

Such an amazing voice! Thankful for Google on reminding us of such talent!!

god bless u beautiful lady with voice of the gods

PROUD PERUVIAN!!

She was so beautiful!

by far the widest vocal range ever, approved by professionals

made in peru! senores!

I'm definitely a proud Peruvian to know Google has made a tribute to Yma on her birthday. However, i truly HATE how Dave kept cutting her off and then used the excuse "we gotta go to commercials" like really?!? How disrespectful to treat a legend like that!!

Letterman was often disrespectful of our older celebrities, in my opinion. I don't think I'd like him, if I ever met him.

Dios mio !!!!!!!!!!! es exitante para el alma!

dang Letterman, I wanted to hear Ima!

Lo mejor que ha dado Perú ever!

Dear Lord, what a amazing song and performer!

This jewel should be completely broadcast. My thoughts go to this magnificent lady. RIP.

Thanks for introducing me Google! She is AWESOME!

La amo, su voz incomparable...

This was when I discovered YMA! I used to be a dave junky....SO MUCH SO that I would make my own 6 hour BEST OF DAVE compilations on VHS. I had 8 of them edited with BEST OF....A while later I was watching them I saw this and didn't remember including it! WELL....2nd time was a charm and when I saw it I was hooked forever!

BEAUTUFUL, BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL.....

omg David is so cute, when he realizes that what he asks of Yma, to demonstrate her lower tone, is something extremely difficult to be done like that and although she prepares to do so (starts the body positioning and the muscle preparation) he so politely jumps into commercial... he is adorable... adorable... and this woman was indeed a miracle (btw normal people's singing range is less than an octave, talented singers usually have two octaves, phenomenally talented singers (Callas) have 3 active octaves and Yma had 5!!!! she was a unique phenomenon!!)

una gran DIVAAA!!! ...orgullo peruano,que bueno que fue reconocida a tiempo en nuestro pais...descansa en paz YMA SUMAC

Awesome! Sounds like trip-hop from the late 1990s or 2000s ! I know it's the exotica beats ! Yma is Awesome!! :) I love how she stops on a dime with her high notes !

Oh my god how rude, just utter and total disrespect towards her. My least favorite talk show host for a reason

Wow!!!!!!!!!!! I did not believe in Angels.... but this is surreal

Beautifull voice. She's unic

She has a beautiful voice, and if you watch some of the older videos from when she was a younger person it is obvious that she has a large full chest which is helpful with singing in higher octaves and also quite attractive on a lady.

Dang...this lady is 65 years old. She looks fantastic! Singer's like this always seem to look great...could it be all that oxygen and diaphram control and mental agililty used in application of the art?

What a Spiritual Entity of Beauty...Nature..The source with a gift from the Gods.

She never studied music. She was discovered when she was 20 or so.

Wow! Que voz magnífica!!

QUE VOZ TAN BELLA TIENE..CANTA MUY BELLO..FELICIDADES..GRACIAS POR COMPARTIR..*MARU*

hermosamente, genialmente eterna gran peruana YMA SUMAC UNO DE LOS EJEMPLOS DE EXCELENTE ARTE PERUANO

I have a couple of her albums that I believe were recorded about thirty years before this. She seems to have never lost her amazing vocal range. This is an amazing performance! Did she ever record a live album?

I love how expressive she is with her face and her hands. That song reminded me of a native american song they would sing around the campfire while celebrating or before getting ready to do into battle. This is the first I am hearing of her, but I love her already.

Es un Privilegio oirla

The Inca Princess :)

viva perú

The Inca princess indeed, amazing!!!

Yma Sumac.

DE LO MAS GRANDE DE PERU QUE MARAVILLOSA

fantastica peruana

espectacular

I miss my grandma She was GREAT . LOVE YOU SO SO. I MISS YOU SOILA

Strange how a person can forget the first experience/exposure to Yma Sumac's sublime hyper-"ethereality". 1987- Hollywood- the Roosevelt Hotel Miss Sumac gave so much to the audience- in return we were enraptured. I think about heaven now, about the soundwaves of her voice broadcast across the universe, and I am not that kind of person. Thank you so much for posting -R

Nicholas E. Limansky, author of “Yma Sumac: The Art Behind the Legend” disclosed in his book that Yma was not an Inca princess, and all the hype was contrived by publicity department at Hollywood’s Capitol Records. The phony con worked commercially, but anyone who knows anything about Peruvian culture knows that her music and singing is not representative of the authentic Peruvian culture. But if you take it as it is, you can enjoy her music because she does have a beautiful voice.

Thanks for posting this video. I had always wanted to see her full performance of Ataypura on Letterman´s show.

Me transportó a otra época.

I really would see her live just to listen to her voice!!!

There is an excellent book on Ms. Sumac that clarifies a great deal about her, debunks tall tales, and goes into tremendous detail on her life and talent. Available from Amazon, among other places.

q voz!

I love this woman!!

Que pássaro lindo♡

Beautiful !

Rev. Sam Rose, at ESP Lab, knew Yma, and wrote songs for her night club act in his songwriting days ( the Hollywood Shuffle, as he called it). They were in touch, until she passed, and I only found out that she was still alive, when he put her name in for a special Niht Lighttreatment during our nightly distant group mediation and blessing. He sent me lyrics for a Christmas Carol about angels singing on high, that he wrote for her, and said that, if I listened, I could hear Yma singing.

This was when I discovered YMA! I used to be a dave junky....SO MUCH SO that I would make my own 6 hour BEST OF DAVE compilations on VHS. A while later I was watching them I saw this and didn't remember including it! WELL....2nd time was a charm and when I saw it I was hooked forever!

Letterman was not a good place for her in '87 nor was The Ballroom where she performed. I've been fascinated and impressed by her since childhood. Look for Anne Bancroft reciting the Thomas Meehan Yma Sumac dream. Wonderful

Голос поддается ей полностью,она что хочет им ,то и вытворяет!

Thanks Google!

Miren la separación del micrófono con su boca, si que canta a puro pulmón

Thank you Alot for this Video. Yma Sumac did a beautiful performance. Shes absolutely divine here. David letterman is rude, But overall a good small segment for the Queen of Exotica.