Yma Sumac was a Peruvian coloratura soprano. She was one of the most famous exponents of exotica music during the 1950s.
Sumac became an international success based on her extreme vocal range. She had five octaves according to some reports, but other reports document four-and-a-half at the peak of her singing career.
In one live recording of "Chuncho", she sings a range of over four and a half octaves, from B₂ to G♯₇. She was able to sing notes in the low baritone register as well as notes above the range of an ordinary soprano. Both low and high extremes can be heard in the song "Chuncho". She was also apparently able to sing in a remarkable "double voice".
In 1954, composer and music critic Virgil Thomson described Sumac's voice as "very low and warm, very high and birdlike", noting that her range "is very close to five octaves, but is in no way inhuman or outlandish in sound." In 2012, audio recording restoration expert John H. Haley favorably compared Sumac's tone to opera singers Isabella Colbran, Maria Malibran, and Pauline Viardot.