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Capitulo 009: Las Divas del Sur · Locatora Radio [A Radiophonic Novela]

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Speaker 1: Kay Radio Radio Radio Commies, a myth and Bullshit, a
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Speaker 1: radio phonic novella, local radio hosted by Malamo. Welcome back
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Speaker 1: to Look at the Radio. This is the FM and
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Speaker 1: this is Malas. Welcome back. Thank you for tuning into
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Speaker 1: Brown Girl, our and our radiophonic novella. Look At a
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Speaker 1: Radio is where we celebrate the brilliance and legacies of
0:37
Speaker 1: women and fems of color. Thank you for tuning in
0:42
Speaker 1: yet again. This is Capitulo number nine Capital and what
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Speaker 1: is the title of today's capitulo Las Divas the Yes,
0:51
Speaker 1: we're so excited. We've been like really like plotting on
0:54
Speaker 1: this episode for a while. Now it's going to be
0:57
Speaker 1: really cute. Yes, it is. I'm excited to share with
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Speaker 1: you all the us vivas that we'll be talking about.
1:01
Speaker 1: But before we get to that, um, we want to
1:03
Speaker 1: do a little like housekeeping, talk about where we're at.
1:06
Speaker 1: Where are we today, Mala today, on this beautiful day,
1:10
Speaker 1: we are at a spasot nine over here in Mariachi
1:13
Speaker 1: Plaza and Boil Heights. Um, there's a lot going on today. Yeah,
1:17
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people coming in and out. It's
1:19
Speaker 1: really great. Some of our listeners from Las Vegas. We're here. Yes,
1:23
Speaker 1: shout out to our listeners from Las Vegas who are
1:25
Speaker 1: here for the day. They were still cute. They took
1:28
Speaker 1: a picture with that. They also said they were gonna
1:30
Speaker 1: go they were going to make their way to me
1:31
Speaker 1: be that. Yeah, which I love, I love it. I
1:34
Speaker 1: love it. It's like now like these destinations that are
1:38
Speaker 1: popping up Visa, v Instagram. Yes, you know, I love it. Yeah. Um.
1:42
Speaker 1: One of the head is actually said that she was
1:44
Speaker 1: going to go to mab that because I love that
1:46
Speaker 1: love shout out. Shout out to me that we've recorded
1:49
Speaker 1: there before. Yes, um, so thank you to Nico and
1:52
Speaker 1: Mita for allowing us to record in their studio. This
1:55
Speaker 1: is a really great space. I feel like is on
1:58
Speaker 1: a new level right now. Oh yeah, hell yeah. I
2:01
Speaker 1: mean the sound quality is like nothing we've ever explained.
2:04
Speaker 1: This will be the best, like the best episode in
2:06
Speaker 1: terms of quality sound quality. I don't think there will
2:09
Speaker 1: be any mic Letchen right, thank god. No, but yeah,
2:13
Speaker 1: thank you Nicole and Mida because Espasio is so great
2:16
Speaker 1: because not only is it an art space and art gallery,
2:20
Speaker 1: they have books, they have shirts, they have clothes, they
2:23
Speaker 1: have art, they have jewelry, they have all kinds of
2:25
Speaker 1: stuff here and they have this community radio space, right
2:28
Speaker 1: and they recently had their art show correct and yes
2:32
Speaker 1: Sica perform. A lot of artists were here on Helica
2:37
Speaker 1: here um and other folks account women that's right, that's right.
2:43
Speaker 1: So's so many folks um are able to share their
2:46
Speaker 1: art here, which is really amazing. And now we're here
2:48
Speaker 1: and now we're here. Yeah. Um, So before we talk
2:52
Speaker 1: about Las Diva, I want to check in with our
2:56
Speaker 1: listeners and talk about what we've been up to. We've
2:58
Speaker 1: been really busy, very busy since the end of February.
3:01
Speaker 1: Now we're in the middle of March. So starting with
3:04
Speaker 1: Ourmviva event. How did it go? Mala, what did we do?
3:07
Speaker 1: Tell God? It was so much fun. I think you know,
3:10
Speaker 1: a few people showed up to the shop for this event.
3:13
Speaker 1: There was a showcase called the artis you know art showcase,
3:18
Speaker 1: and there were all these moreheads who their original art,
3:21
Speaker 1: their paintings were shown. Um. Noel did a great job
3:25
Speaker 1: of getting thrown out there to perform with her live band.
3:28
Speaker 1: DJ Sizzle was playing and then we were the femcs.
3:30
Speaker 1: We were It was cute, it was fun, it was
3:33
Speaker 1: that was their first event where we were fencing. It
3:36
Speaker 1: was it was great. It was cute, we looked cute,
3:38
Speaker 1: we felt cute. It was a good time. But there
3:40
Speaker 1: were people from out of state too, were there. Yeah, yeah,
3:43
Speaker 1: so that's really dope. It's it's really great when we
3:45
Speaker 1: get to meet people that like not only listen to us,
3:48
Speaker 1: but also folks that are new and maybe they get
3:51
Speaker 1: turned onto the podcast because of an event that we're
3:53
Speaker 1: at exactly. So it's like we're doing more. We're doing
3:56
Speaker 1: more femc type events. We hosted a workshop at UCSB workshop.
4:01
Speaker 1: We actually feci at That's so true. I can't even
4:04
Speaker 1: keep up, Like, you know, it wasn't It was an
4:07
Speaker 1: intense like two three weeks so before we went to
4:10
Speaker 1: UCSP Friday Night on the Woman was at the first, third, second,
4:14
Speaker 1: March whatever the Friday of around there happened. Donna actually
4:20
Speaker 1: had an EP release at the boil Heights Arts Conservatory.
4:24
Speaker 1: It was a really great space. Donna was amazing, she
4:27
Speaker 1: looked beautiful, She had a photo booth. We femcied, We
4:31
Speaker 1: did a trivia you know trivia. One of the questions
4:35
Speaker 1: was like what is her favorite snack? Yeah, the answer
4:38
Speaker 1: is everybody knew. Um. So it was really cute. The
4:43
Speaker 1: trivia I think was really it was really fun. It
4:46
Speaker 1: was fun. It was a good time. And her EP
4:49
Speaker 1: doll is on iTunes now, so that's out and it's
4:53
Speaker 1: really good. She has a music video for the song
4:57
Speaker 1: on YouTube. It's beautiful, beautiful. Go check it out. Check out.
5:01
Speaker 1: We'll link it somewhere. Yeah. I think I think we
5:06
Speaker 1: shared a clip of the total music video on our instagrament. Okay,
5:10
Speaker 1: we already did that, so y'all probably saw it that
5:12
Speaker 1: people go ahead on YouTube. Um. And then the next
5:16
Speaker 1: day we went to you see, Santa Barbara. We were
5:18
Speaker 1: back to back to back. Um, I'll tell them about
5:23
Speaker 1: the hotspot please, I'm tech literally yes. So Mala drove
5:28
Speaker 1: up to Santa Barbara. UM, and while she was driving,
5:32
Speaker 1: I needed to do some edits to our presy that
5:34
Speaker 1: we were going to present that day because we were
5:37
Speaker 1: just so tired. We were back to back. Prior to
5:39
Speaker 1: Donna's EP release, I was actually in Santa Barbara doing
5:42
Speaker 1: my own workshop at my Friends of us Dan's class
5:45
Speaker 1: shout out to Cafic on Cheeseman. UM. Anyway, so Saturday,
5:51
Speaker 1: driving up, we were exhausted, you know, but we were like,
5:53
Speaker 1: all right, let's do this. So we needed to do
5:56
Speaker 1: some last minute edits, but you know, had no WiFi. Obviously,
6:00
Speaker 1: we were in the car, moving vehicle. Her tablet wasn't working.
6:04
Speaker 1: We couldn't edit it on, we couldn't edit ou presing.
6:07
Speaker 1: So we created a hot spot and we were able
6:10
Speaker 1: to edit some of our pres while we were driving up.
6:13
Speaker 1: And it was intense. We took fem tech to a
6:15
Speaker 1: whole new level. I feel absolutely. I mean like it
6:18
Speaker 1: just is such a beautiful combination of like procrastinating and
6:22
Speaker 1: being desperate at the last minute. Am I. I feel
6:26
Speaker 1: like you're extra innovative when you're like there's a time
6:29
Speaker 1: crunch when you procrastinated, or you need to turn something
6:33
Speaker 1: in within the next thirty minutes, like just kind of
6:36
Speaker 1: things ways and absolutely, but it was fun. But the
6:41
Speaker 1: workshop we presented our fem Defense Workshop correct at UCSB.
6:45
Speaker 1: The students were brilliant and amazing and I love them. Yes,
6:49
Speaker 1: thank you to everyone that so pictures with us, participated,
6:54
Speaker 1: you know, learned with us, We learned from you all too,
6:57
Speaker 1: So it was really beautiful to share space with y'all.
7:00
Speaker 1: We'll be back in Santa Barbara soon. I think we
7:02
Speaker 1: will be I know we'll We'll save those details, yes
7:05
Speaker 1: for our next we finalize it, but we may or
7:09
Speaker 1: may not be back in Santa Barbara soon. Keep your
7:11
Speaker 1: eyes peeled, yes, um. And then finally we have Yeah,
7:16
Speaker 1: so fun talk about it. Oh my god, so much
7:18
Speaker 1: to talk about. Soad. We actually had the honor of
7:23
Speaker 1: recording a life. So we were set up in the
7:26
Speaker 1: theater um and we kind of just we're on for
7:30
Speaker 1: like an hour and a half. We had a cute
7:32
Speaker 1: little table set up with our mic. We had pink
7:37
Speaker 1: feathers everywhere, we had glitter, we had our candles, we
7:40
Speaker 1: had our questions. We were cute. And so the way
7:44
Speaker 1: that viad was set up was if you wanted to participate,
7:47
Speaker 1: you could sit in the audience and just listen to
7:49
Speaker 1: us as we talked. But then a lot of moheadas
7:52
Speaker 1: came down and joined us and sat with us. They
7:54
Speaker 1: were like, you know, guest speakers. They answered questions. So
7:57
Speaker 1: that's going to be a special cup that we're gonna
7:59
Speaker 1: put at a later day to be determined. Um, we
8:02
Speaker 1: have to edit that. But it was so fun. It
8:05
Speaker 1: was really fun, and I think Originally it went, I mean,
8:07
Speaker 1: everything always takes form and take shape into whatever it
8:10
Speaker 1: needs to be. But originally we only had we're gonna
8:13
Speaker 1: do three twenty minutes segments, right, We ended up doing
8:17
Speaker 1: like two fifty minutes segments. So by the end of
8:20
Speaker 1: the second one, we were done. We retired, absolutely done.
8:24
Speaker 1: But it was so nice to do a recording with listeners,
8:28
Speaker 1: you know, in real life, like in person. They were
8:32
Speaker 1: so beautiful, so smart, they had so much to say.
8:35
Speaker 1: So I think that that episode is going to be
8:37
Speaker 1: really interesting because it's a lot of perspectives from a
8:39
Speaker 1: lot of different mohandas that were there. So thank you
8:42
Speaker 1: Last Project for inviting us. Yes, thank you. There were
8:46
Speaker 1: so many beautiful talented artists there, young women, they're young girls.
8:51
Speaker 1: The photography, your family was there, also, Grandma Natcha, Yeah,
8:55
Speaker 1: my Grandma Natcha was there, my parents, my sister. It
8:59
Speaker 1: was really cute and the photography from the Last Photos
9:03
Speaker 1: was really beautiful, amazing. They're very talented. Yes, so thank
9:08
Speaker 1: you again Last Photos for having us. Yes, yes, so
9:11
Speaker 1: let's get into it. Yeah, you know, we have been
9:15
Speaker 1: we mean, we've already shared this that we do not
9:18
Speaker 1: hold the virtue of patients. You know this, this podcast
9:21
Speaker 1: has really tested us because we want to put everything
9:24
Speaker 1: out as soon as we think it about. We're learning
9:26
Speaker 1: to just let it marinate in our minds and then
9:30
Speaker 1: you know. So today we're gonna be talking about Las Viva,
9:37
Speaker 1: the divas that don't necessarily get that much shine, but
9:41
Speaker 1: are amazing incredible in their own right, and we really
9:43
Speaker 1: want to highlight those, those narratives, those artists, these women
9:47
Speaker 1: that have done so much in ways that maybe we're
9:49
Speaker 1: not even aware of yet. So MoMA is going to
9:52
Speaker 1: talk to you all about our first artista, first diva.
9:56
Speaker 1: So let's get into it. Yes, I'm so excited because,
9:59
Speaker 1: like yours have, this particular diva is somebody who in
10:05
Speaker 1: her day was a big deal, who was loved and adored,
10:10
Speaker 1: and her music is still played today. But she's not
10:12
Speaker 1: somebody we hear about very often, and there's in doing
10:15
Speaker 1: my research on her, there wasn't that much written about her.
10:18
Speaker 1: I didn't find a lot of like scholarly materials. I
10:20
Speaker 1: think there might be one or two books written about her.
10:23
Speaker 1: I found like a couple YouTube videos kind of biographies.
10:27
Speaker 1: But so her name um Isna Negra and she in
10:32
Speaker 1: her day was it as far as Boletto singles singers went.
10:37
Speaker 1: And I've read a couple of things online that referred
10:39
Speaker 1: to her as the Billie Holiday of music. Yes, so,
10:45
Speaker 1: Negra was an Aficana. She came from a family of musicians,
10:50
Speaker 1: um from a port city in Veracruz, which is south right,
10:55
Speaker 1: which is the southern basically the Caribbean coast of Mexico.
11:00
Speaker 1: And she was originally born um Marian Antonia Garmin. That
11:06
Speaker 1: was her given name when she was born, and she
11:09
Speaker 1: was born in October of nineteen twelve, again in Vera Cruz.
11:13
Speaker 1: And she started out singing because she grew up in
11:17
Speaker 1: this musical family and I think her brother was a
11:20
Speaker 1: musician as well. And what she would do as a
11:23
Speaker 1: youth is she saying in carnivals, contests, pageants, um. And
11:29
Speaker 1: by the time she was twenty, she had gotten married,
11:31
Speaker 1: she had a child, and she and her husband moved
11:34
Speaker 1: to Mexico City. And while she was in Mexico City,
11:38
Speaker 1: she started to come into her own as far as
11:41
Speaker 1: becoming a professional singer on a more national level, and
11:45
Speaker 1: she met Augustine Lada, and Augustine Lada is very well known.
11:52
Speaker 1: He's very well known, extremely famous UM composer, musician of
11:57
Speaker 1: his day who made a lot of really important music,
12:00
Speaker 1: and he linked up with Marie Antonia, later to be
12:04
Speaker 1: known as Dona la Negra. And the information that I
12:08
Speaker 1: found out about her, um, there was a book written
12:11
Speaker 1: by UM an author from Vera Cruz and his name
12:14
Speaker 1: is Raphael Fiertoa, and he wrote a book about Dona
12:17
Speaker 1: la Negra. So, uh, what he was saying is the
12:22
Speaker 1: legend basically has it that when Agostin Laa met Tonia
12:26
Speaker 1: in UM Mexico City, that she basically became his muse,
12:31
Speaker 1: that he kind of took her under his wing as
12:34
Speaker 1: his muse, and he decided that um, he wanted to
12:39
Speaker 1: rename her, so instead of her name being Marie Antonia,
12:42
Speaker 1: he suggested, well, why don't we name you Dona la Negra. Right,
12:45
Speaker 1: And I'm really interested because I couldn't find that much
12:48
Speaker 1: scholarship about her. It's kind of said that she didn't
12:51
Speaker 1: really do a lot of interviews, she could do a
12:53
Speaker 1: lot of self promotion. I couldn't really find very much
12:56
Speaker 1: of like her words. So I'm going to kind of
12:59
Speaker 1: assume that she also had something to do with calling
13:01
Speaker 1: herself to Negra, that it wasn't just him that named
13:04
Speaker 1: her that. But what's interesting is that this author, um
13:09
Speaker 1: Raphael Figueroa, what he says in this piece about Tonio
13:13
Speaker 1: la Negra on pr I dot org um, what he
13:17
Speaker 1: basically said in making the connection between Augustin Lara and
13:21
Speaker 1: Dona la Negra was that for Augustin Lara, he was
13:27
Speaker 1: able to conduct this musical exploration of the black contribution
13:31
Speaker 1: to Mexican culture visa vini la negra. So he wrote songs, ballads, boleros,
13:38
Speaker 1: rumbas specifically for her. Right. So, one of her most
13:41
Speaker 1: famous songs, so one of her more famous famous songs
13:44
Speaker 1: have to do with Vera Cruz and have to do
13:47
Speaker 1: with talking about blackness in Mexico, blackness and Vera Cruz
13:51
Speaker 1: and so um. For example, a song that we're gonna
13:54
Speaker 1: play later in this episode is called Alma Vera Cruz. Right.
13:58
Speaker 1: She sings a song called a helios negros. Right. And
14:03
Speaker 1: she also was very much and Augustine as well. They
14:07
Speaker 1: were very much influenced by a lot of Cuban music,
14:10
Speaker 1: Afro Cuban music, Caribbean music that made its way to
14:13
Speaker 1: very groups. Right. That's how rumba, right, and different styles
14:18
Speaker 1: of dance and of singing that have that Afro Caribbean origin,
14:22
Speaker 1: you know, came to be very influential in Mexico. Um.
14:25
Speaker 1: There was another song that Agustin Lata wrote for Um Donja,
14:32
Speaker 1: which was really interesting because it was kind of all
14:36
Speaker 1: it was kind of like a lament, a sad song,
14:39
Speaker 1: and it's called Lamento right, and she's basically talking about
14:43
Speaker 1: like kind of this sadness that comes with being Afro Mexicana,
14:48
Speaker 1: with being a black person in this in the midst
14:52
Speaker 1: of this is how she refers to right, and so
14:56
Speaker 1: talking about her positionality as an Afro Mexican woman in
15:00
Speaker 1: a country that's very fixated on messy sahe right, but
15:05
Speaker 1: this on this messy sah that only focuses on indigenous
15:08
Speaker 1: and Spanish combinations, not considering what a lot of scholars
15:12
Speaker 1: referred to as this third route right Afro Mexican Eva.
15:16
Speaker 1: So yeah, so that's a little bit about her history
15:19
Speaker 1: about La Negra UM. It was really interesting because reading
15:22
Speaker 1: about her UM, you know, it kind of put into
15:27
Speaker 1: perspective how important her work was because if you look
15:32
Speaker 1: at her entire discography, like basically the book of compositions
15:36
Speaker 1: that Agostin Lata wrote for her. I'm sure that she
15:40
Speaker 1: informed all of the music, you know, like what I've
15:42
Speaker 1: been reading the different accounts, um and the interviews and
15:46
Speaker 1: things that I've been reading about her online, Like people
15:49
Speaker 1: very much like to position this idea that like, okay,
15:53
Speaker 1: like Augustin Lata wrote these songs for her and this
15:56
Speaker 1: was his exploration made in a way like he named her,
16:00
Speaker 1: created her identity when we know very like probably not right,
16:04
Speaker 1: Like I'm sure she inspired this the creativity, this artistic creation, right,
16:09
Speaker 1: but that wouldn't have been possible without her. But why
16:12
Speaker 1: does he get the credit for quote creating her? Right?
16:16
Speaker 1: It's just interesting because I'm sure that you know, he
16:18
Speaker 1: was obviously he was very creative. Um, he was a
16:22
Speaker 1: musical genius. But um, I'm just seeing kind of over
16:26
Speaker 1: and over like, oh, he named her and she wrote
16:28
Speaker 1: songs for her. It was his ex musical exploration of
16:32
Speaker 1: the black experience, will know, But like it's coming from her,
16:35
Speaker 1: like the knowledge and the music is coming from her
16:37
Speaker 1: because that's literally where she's from, right you know? Yeah,
16:42
Speaker 1: I mean I think also because even when I was
16:44
Speaker 1: doing the research for the Diva that I'm going to
16:46
Speaker 1: talk about it made me. It's so different in the
16:49
Speaker 1: sense that like because of the time period, like there
16:52
Speaker 1: is no like autobiography like this, this person, this artist
16:57
Speaker 1: is writing about herself. It's like no, these news sources
17:01
Speaker 1: are taking like pieces of what they see and creating
17:04
Speaker 1: their own story. Right. So the fact that these women
17:07
Speaker 1: aren't here anymore or didn't have, um, like literally the
17:10
Speaker 1: technological means to tell their own story, I think really
17:14
Speaker 1: changes the way we can see it now. That makes sense. Yeah,
17:17
Speaker 1: absolutely so in looking at her discography and the music
17:21
Speaker 1: that she made, I would say that her albums, that
17:24
Speaker 1: all of her music, like you're saying, would serve as
17:27
Speaker 1: her biography, right, um. And her music is just beautiful.
17:30
Speaker 1: And it was interesting because this author figured out out
17:33
Speaker 1: he talks about the fact that she didn't really do interviews,
17:37
Speaker 1: she didn't really do self promotion, that her the just
17:41
Speaker 1: off the strength of her voice, right, people loved her.
17:44
Speaker 1: And it was really interesting because he was talking about
17:46
Speaker 1: the fact that you know, for us in Vera Cruz
17:50
Speaker 1: Negra was the singer of the twentieth century. She was it,
17:54
Speaker 1: and that she had like a big contribution to like, yeah,
17:59
Speaker 1: like you know, um honoring and talking about the black
18:02
Speaker 1: contribution to Mexican culture, and he was very specific and
18:06
Speaker 1: he was saying, you know, the music is very much
18:09
Speaker 1: based on Black Caribbean contributions in Veracruz. And Um, I
18:14
Speaker 1: think that's really important, and it's really interesting to me
18:17
Speaker 1: that I don't hear very much about Doniola Negra. We
18:19
Speaker 1: hear about, like, you know, there's there's other singers out
18:23
Speaker 1: of Mexico and actresses, and Doniola Negra was an actress
18:27
Speaker 1: as well. Um, we hear more about like Selena, but
18:31
Speaker 1: she's not from Mexico, she's from Texas. But we'll hear
18:34
Speaker 1: more like other figures like Selena or Maria Felius. Right,
18:38
Speaker 1: there's there's all these other women who were like much wider, looking,
18:42
Speaker 1: much more light skinned that I think we consider to
18:45
Speaker 1: be national symbols of like beauty and grace and artistry.
18:50
Speaker 1: And I'm sure that in Mexico. I think that there's
18:54
Speaker 1: like a street named after her, like in her town
18:56
Speaker 1: that she's from in Veracruz. But I just wish that
18:59
Speaker 1: I would or more about her because it seems like
19:01
Speaker 1: she was a big deal and she was in a
19:03
Speaker 1: few movies for example, she was in this movie called
19:07
Speaker 1: Heads or Tails, which was filmed in nineteen thirty seven,
19:09
Speaker 1: and this was actually the third film that gunpin Flass
19:12
Speaker 1: ever made, So she was in a film with gunping Flass.
19:16
Speaker 1: Um she was in nineteen forty three, she was in
19:18
Speaker 1: a film called Mariahena and that was actually a drama
19:22
Speaker 1: and she also and Maria Felix was in that film. Yeah,
19:25
Speaker 1: that's that's interesting because the folks that she's working with,
19:28
Speaker 1: we're artists or actors, actresses that became famous because of
19:33
Speaker 1: in Mexico. In Mexico, right, But she's also not recognized
19:37
Speaker 1: maybe on the same level. Right, And she's known for
19:40
Speaker 1: being one of the greatest singers from that time period,
19:42
Speaker 1: from the golden period, right and so' And again I'm
19:45
Speaker 1: sure that down in Mexico and Vera Cruz, like you
19:48
Speaker 1: talk about her, she's probably a big deal. People probably
19:51
Speaker 1: recognize her. But me growing up, you know, I was
19:55
Speaker 1: more likely to hear about the Lorees del Rio versus
20:00
Speaker 1: Toni la negra, Right, So I just think that it's
20:03
Speaker 1: interesting who gets the shine. Um she was in in
20:09
Speaker 1: she was actually in a film. Um and Augustine Lata
20:12
Speaker 1: was also in the film called um So. Yeah, she
20:15
Speaker 1: did a whole bunch. She did a bunch of stuff.
20:17
Speaker 1: And it was interesting because one of the YouTube videos
20:20
Speaker 1: that I saw kind of talking about a biography of
20:22
Speaker 1: her life, is they were saying that she was really
20:23
Speaker 1: difficult to work with, that she would break contracts, that
20:28
Speaker 1: she was just like kind of hardheaded. And I love
20:31
Speaker 1: that because I think that that's kind of when we
20:33
Speaker 1: think of divas, we think of being like difficult, right,
20:37
Speaker 1: difficult to work with, stubborn, aggressive, whatever it is. And
20:43
Speaker 1: I love that detail because I'm like, Yeah, if you're
20:46
Speaker 1: causing um, like a man of headache, then I think
20:49
Speaker 1: that you're doing your job right. Like if you're causing
20:51
Speaker 1: a man of migraine, then you're doing something right. And
20:54
Speaker 1: I love you, Lee Rostra and and and friends and
21:04
Speaker 1: and and and friends and and and and friends and
21:11
Speaker 1: and and and and and and and friends ll ra
21:19
Speaker 1: and and and send Delly raa and and and sends
21:25
Speaker 1: ll raa and and and and um from from from
21:32
Speaker 1: home from from from from from from from it and
21:42
Speaker 1: um um so welcome back. Um So. Now, moving forward,
21:47
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about our second diva, which is
21:51
Speaker 1: Ima Sumak. She is from Peru Umga. She was born
21:56
Speaker 1: as Zoila Augusta m Peratrice Chavari. Name right there, but
22:04
Speaker 1: she still had to do do it even bigger and
22:06
Speaker 1: go by Ima sumak um. She was born in Camara.
22:13
Speaker 1: Um she was born in the nineteen twenties. There's like
22:18
Speaker 1: different dates for her birthday, which I think is really funny.
22:22
Speaker 1: Um so so um Ima sumach which you know, and
22:27
Speaker 1: I actually hadn't heard about her until maybe a year
22:31
Speaker 1: and a half ago. Um And I think most of
22:35
Speaker 1: like my understanding of like proving culture is like always
22:40
Speaker 1: through my own my own kind of learning, my own research,
22:46
Speaker 1: because um, I don't my family like we don't really
22:49
Speaker 1: we don't really talk about these kinds of things, you know.
22:51
Speaker 1: So anyway, she was, she called herself like the inca princess.
22:56
Speaker 1: She claimed to be like a descendant of like the
22:59
Speaker 1: last an emperor. So if you've ever seen her, her
23:02
Speaker 1: get up is always a super extravagant, super like grand dose.
23:07
Speaker 1: She was like she would wear like gold and silver
23:10
Speaker 1: jewelry just like talk about fem adornoant, just super super
23:13
Speaker 1: over the over the top. I love it. She was
23:17
Speaker 1: incredibly an incredible, incredible singer because she actually had a
23:21
Speaker 1: range of five octaves, which is pretty pretty fucking amazing
23:25
Speaker 1: and also really rare. So she was also called um
23:30
Speaker 1: approved like she would they would call her the Peruvian
23:33
Speaker 1: songbird because her octave was so her range was so
23:37
Speaker 1: um so big that she was able to like emulate
23:42
Speaker 1: the sounds of animals, you know, So if you've ever
23:45
Speaker 1: heard any of her songs, you can definitely see that. Um. Anyways,
23:50
Speaker 1: so she actually began her career in Arcentthena in the
23:54
Speaker 1: nineteen forties, and then after her success in Arcanthena, she
23:57
Speaker 1: moved to the United States. Um, I think is where
24:01
Speaker 1: she created her her stage name Ima Sumac, which from
24:06
Speaker 1: what the research that I've done in Guechua means beautiful
24:09
Speaker 1: flower or beautiful girl. So I'm not actually sure. So
24:13
Speaker 1: if you speak Etchua or your family speaks Ketchua, can
24:16
Speaker 1: you confirm this because I'm really curious as to what
24:20
Speaker 1: Ima Sumak actually means. Um. Yeah, So anyway, UM, I
24:25
Speaker 1: think it's really interesting that she became like if you
24:28
Speaker 1: think about the time, like nine right, and she came
24:32
Speaker 1: to the US, but this is where she made her career.
24:35
Speaker 1: To me, that is like that is so it blows
24:38
Speaker 1: my mind. So her career was really made here, not
24:41
Speaker 1: so much not in you know, she was like like
24:45
Speaker 1: of course she's there's you know, like there's a lot
24:48
Speaker 1: of pride in that. But the fact that she made
24:50
Speaker 1: her career here to me blows my mind. And I
24:53
Speaker 1: think it's just such a statement of how talented she
24:56
Speaker 1: really was. You know, the fact that her vocal range
24:59
Speaker 1: was five octaves right, um And I think that that
25:04
Speaker 1: is so rare for somebody, especially at the time. And um,
25:08
Speaker 1: I think she really she she played with the whole exotica,
25:12
Speaker 1: like making herself exotic, making herself like mysterious, like taking
25:17
Speaker 1: on that role, like performing in that way. She she
25:21
Speaker 1: made that hers. She she reclaimed it in that way,
25:23
Speaker 1: I think, which is I think is why I'm so
25:26
Speaker 1: drawn to her and her power. Um. And she she
25:29
Speaker 1: knew like she was able to thrive here because of that,
25:33
Speaker 1: you know, And I think that that is incredible. Do
25:35
Speaker 1: you think that that would have been as valued had
25:38
Speaker 1: she been doing it in Peru, Like would it have
25:41
Speaker 1: had the same appeal? I'm not sure I really can
25:44
Speaker 1: tell you. Maybe maybe not, because I think, um, I
25:47
Speaker 1: think in Biddle, if anything, you're there, I mean, there's
25:52
Speaker 1: that's hard. Especially that's hard. Yeah, because of the time period, definitely.
25:57
Speaker 1: I mean I think because her music was like musica
26:01
Speaker 1: and dina um, you know, but it was also like
26:05
Speaker 1: very opera, like she was an opera singer, you know.
26:09
Speaker 1: So I think because she took like so many different
26:13
Speaker 1: um different sounds and made it her own. I think
26:17
Speaker 1: that's why it was able to thrive here. I think
26:20
Speaker 1: maybe I don't know if maybe i'm speaking like maybe
26:23
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say this, but I'm wondering if like maybe
26:27
Speaker 1: her work wouldn't have been as valued in Biddu, you know,
26:30
Speaker 1: and maybe she knew and that was the reason she
26:33
Speaker 1: made She started her career in Arcanthina, which makes sense
26:36
Speaker 1: that the Exceltico in Arcanthina would boom thrive, and then
26:41
Speaker 1: she came here and again. So she was actually married
26:44
Speaker 1: to one of her band members, MOI says, and they
26:48
Speaker 1: actually signed with Capitol Records and her first album sold
26:53
Speaker 1: him like a million copies look at her, Yeah, and
26:57
Speaker 1: it makes me like kind of upset it. I didn't
27:00
Speaker 1: really hear about her until a year ago. You know,
27:02
Speaker 1: I didn't know who she was. You know, I've never
27:05
Speaker 1: heard my family talk about Ima Sumak like until like
27:09
Speaker 1: I think I shared a picture on my Facebook of
27:11
Speaker 1: her talking about like goals, you know, and my DIAA.
27:16
Speaker 1: She's actually my DIA's sister, but my so my anyway whatever,
27:22
Speaker 1: we're related somehow somehow, you know. SOA, she like she
27:26
Speaker 1: knew about Imasuma and she was so we started talking
27:29
Speaker 1: about her. But prior to that, like I had never
27:31
Speaker 1: I had never heard anybody talk about her um to me,
27:34
Speaker 1: but she really like when I've seen some pictures of
27:38
Speaker 1: her now and like the looks and the face all
27:42
Speaker 1: of it. She her wing eyeliner, her gold and silver,
27:47
Speaker 1: like if you know anything about bed, there is beautiful
27:51
Speaker 1: jewelry being made there, the silver and gold. You know,
27:54
Speaker 1: we were like and she was wearing all of We
27:56
Speaker 1: were like Incan goddess gods and goddesses pretty much with
27:59
Speaker 1: all the you know, and that's what we're all and
28:01
Speaker 1: that was her aesthetic. Um, like I was saying, she
28:04
Speaker 1: called herself like the last descendant of you know, like
28:09
Speaker 1: the last Incan emperor. She was the Inca princess and
28:13
Speaker 1: um and yeah, so that really made her look I feel,
28:16
Speaker 1: and like she was also into she would starting two
28:21
Speaker 1: films here in Hollywood, put on by Paramount Pictures. Right,
28:26
Speaker 1: I'm like, we're gonna need to have a movie night,
28:28
Speaker 1: I feel. Yeah. So reading about her, apparently, um, when
28:38
Speaker 1: she became more mainstream her she actually became more alienated
28:44
Speaker 1: from her Peruvian fan base interest, right, yeah, and then
28:49
Speaker 1: they began to see her as a sellout it yeah,
28:52
Speaker 1: and then I guess how that happens, right, And I
28:55
Speaker 1: guess like her in her first film, Secret of the Incas,
28:59
Speaker 1: it was supposed to be set. I mean, it's kind
29:03
Speaker 1: of ridiculous, you know, but like this was this was her,
29:06
Speaker 1: this was her career, right, this is she knew what
29:08
Speaker 1: she was doing. In my opinion, she knew what was
29:11
Speaker 1: gonna work. Especially, I feel like here in the US,
29:15
Speaker 1: like people don't know anything about South America at all.
29:19
Speaker 1: Like one time somebody asked me if, like what part
29:21
Speaker 1: of herw or what part of Mexico was in what? Yeah,
29:27
Speaker 1: not so my person, of course, I wish I was kidding.
29:32
Speaker 1: My family has crazy stories of this where like people
29:35
Speaker 1: were like, they don't know where Fetu is. So it
29:38
Speaker 1: makes sense that she knew her audience, she knew her market,
29:41
Speaker 1: She knew that Alexotico was you know, fetishizes pretty much,
29:47
Speaker 1: you know, and but she made it work. The fetish
29:50
Speaker 1: is there, why not play to it, you know what.
29:52
Speaker 1: Power to her. I think that that's amazing. Um So,
29:55
Speaker 1: but anyway, going back to the film, apparently only a
29:58
Speaker 1: small portion of it was actually filmed in much and
30:01
Speaker 1: the rest was like in a studio and that was
30:03
Speaker 1: really upsetting to some Puano's okay, yeah, which I could see.
30:08
Speaker 1: I could see that right right, because it's like, why
30:11
Speaker 1: not do the filming at the actual location, right right,
30:14
Speaker 1: that's Hollywood? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, Well, you know I love her,
30:18
Speaker 1: look um her. Um just we're gonna post tons of
30:24
Speaker 1: pictures of and if you're listening in your Nework computer
30:28
Speaker 1: or something that you can google, I want y'all to
30:30
Speaker 1: look up a picture of her so you can see
30:32
Speaker 1: like the heavy, heavy, heavy amounts of jewelry that she
30:36
Speaker 1: was wearing constantly when she would perform. You know, it's
30:40
Speaker 1: really like such a performance. You know, she's a door
30:45
Speaker 1: and absolutely, um it's like a type of it's like
30:49
Speaker 1: a goddess worship that she's allowing you. Absolutely, you know what, yes, absolutely,
30:54
Speaker 1: We're going to save that for another couple. So when
30:56
Speaker 1: we talk about God worsh up, um see how we
30:59
Speaker 1: can't bet more anyway? So you know she would also
31:06
Speaker 1: she sing mambos. She's saying, Mari Neda's guicka if you
31:10
Speaker 1: remember talked about Maria. I know, yeah, Um, so she
31:17
Speaker 1: like to me, I feel like she really broke the mold,
31:19
Speaker 1: especially considering the time that she was in And I'm sorry,
31:23
Speaker 1: but like a South American woman just doing the damn
31:25
Speaker 1: thing here in the US, like in the nineties forties, exactly. Yes,
31:30
Speaker 1: It's it's difficult to think about that happening now. Honest.
31:34
Speaker 1: I don't think you know any Bidjuanas in the game
31:37
Speaker 1: that are like Hella repping Bidu, you know what I mean?
31:41
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, Like she's an Inca princess.
31:44
Speaker 1: That was how she made her career. Like I'm positive
31:47
Speaker 1: there there are actors and actresses or singers people are
31:50
Speaker 1: doing art that are of South American or Proving descent.
31:54
Speaker 1: But she's like the Inca princess. You know, it might
31:57
Speaker 1: change my handle to that TV, I know, right, um yeah,
32:07
Speaker 1: And I love how she really kind of like reclaimed
32:11
Speaker 1: that adornment gold and the jewels and it's like, this
32:15
Speaker 1: is what I'm going to wear, you know what. And
32:17
Speaker 1: I think that that's so interesting because contrary to she
32:22
Speaker 1: did a ton of interviews, she was on The Letterman Show.
32:24
Speaker 1: Like later on in her life, she's a lot older
32:27
Speaker 1: and she performs on The Letterman Show. Get out of Here.
32:31
Speaker 1: I wish I was kidding. Well, no I don't, but yes,
32:33
Speaker 1: I'm serious. Wow, did you what? Did you watch the interview?
32:37
Speaker 1: I didn't watch the interview, but I'm not even sure
32:39
Speaker 1: if it was an interview, because you know how um,
32:42
Speaker 1: sometimes on those talk shows they just performed, but they
32:44
Speaker 1: don't talk to them. I feel like it might have
32:45
Speaker 1: been that I only watched the performance. I didn't get
32:48
Speaker 1: a chance to see if there was an interview. So
32:49
Speaker 1: she really was like doing She was doing the damn thing.
32:52
Speaker 1: She knew what she was doing. I mean, I think
32:55
Speaker 1: the fact that she signed with Capital Records goes to
32:57
Speaker 1: show that she had a good production team, right, she
33:00
Speaker 1: had good people behind she did who knew how to
33:03
Speaker 1: work with her type of art, with what she was
33:06
Speaker 1: putting out there. Yeah, and then in one of the
33:07
Speaker 1: articles that I read, um, I guess after World War Two,
33:11
Speaker 1: there was like a boom in like worldly music. So yeah,
33:16
Speaker 1: so she would. I'm assuming her music would be classified
33:19
Speaker 1: under that, Like you know when you go to a
33:21
Speaker 1: record store and it's like world music, global music. I
33:25
Speaker 1: think that that's what her Her music would be classified as.
33:30
Speaker 1: That was her lane, that was like her Nie. She
33:32
Speaker 1: was like otherworldly, you know. Like in one of the
33:35
Speaker 1: one of the articles I read, it was Len who
33:36
Speaker 1: read it. The Red quoted Emma as a beautiful, otherworldly
33:40
Speaker 1: shanto whose veins around with royal inca blood. She began
33:44
Speaker 1: dressing in lavish gowns and draping herself in indigenous inspired
33:47
Speaker 1: proving jewelry, using a mysterious glamor. Wherever she went goals
33:52
Speaker 1: goals TVH like that is my aesthetic goals right, And
33:57
Speaker 1: she knew what she was doing. She was brilliant, in
34:00
Speaker 1: my opinion, super super brilliant. Um. I mean. I also
34:05
Speaker 1: read that there was like a rumor which probably started
34:09
Speaker 1: by haters, probably hater hateful bamanos that were jealous that
34:12
Speaker 1: she was like a sellout. But apparently they were saying
34:15
Speaker 1: that I was actually from Brooklyn and her name was
34:20
Speaker 1: Amy spelled backwards, shut up, and that she was actually
34:25
Speaker 1: from Brooklyn and was like a big old phony pretty
34:31
Speaker 1: much right, but that and keep her down, you know,
34:35
Speaker 1: she's like, no, I am a Peruvian princess. It's going
34:38
Speaker 1: to take a rumor. Needs to be a lot more
34:41
Speaker 1: like intricate than Oh, actually she's from Brooklyn, that's her name.
34:45
Speaker 1: Smelled back like, come on, give me some real dirt,
34:47
Speaker 1: like give me a real scandal. Yes, So I think
34:51
Speaker 1: that we should do a movie night one day where
34:53
Speaker 1: we um we play and I think just also I
34:59
Speaker 1: would really want to watch her films to be critical
35:01
Speaker 1: of the way like Prue is exoticized, not like on
35:03
Speaker 1: her doing, but like the filmmakers doing. Absolutely, you know,
35:06
Speaker 1: I think that would be really interesting it was they
35:08
Speaker 1: were American directors and stuff. I'm assuming behind the camera. Absolutely, Yes,
35:13
Speaker 1: you should do that. Thank you so much for tuning into.
35:15
Speaker 1: Let's with local radio. Before we say goodbye, we want
35:21
Speaker 1: to we have some announcements that we want to share
35:23
Speaker 1: with y'all. Yeah. So first, um, our listeners, you probably
35:27
Speaker 1: have noticed that you're having trouble finding us on iTunes. Um,
35:31
Speaker 1: so we don't know what's going on. We're gonna check
35:35
Speaker 1: that out and we're going to try and fix that
35:37
Speaker 1: because our episodes I think should still be like in
35:40
Speaker 1: your library. Correct, if you're subscribed to us, it should
35:43
Speaker 1: update your feet. However, if you're searching for us, I
35:46
Speaker 1: do not think that we appear UM, so we're going
35:49
Speaker 1: to figure that out in the meantime. If it's available
35:51
Speaker 1: to you, UM, SoundCloud is always an option. If your
35:55
Speaker 1: your dad is an issue, I know that you can
35:57
Speaker 1: download actually on SoundCloud so then you can keep it
36:00
Speaker 1: in your library so you can play without um using
36:03
Speaker 1: any of your data. So thank you for being patient
36:05
Speaker 1: with us learning with us. It's the process. And if
36:08
Speaker 1: any of you are like really really proficient and excellent
36:13
Speaker 1: when it comes to iTunes the podcast connect and you
36:16
Speaker 1: want to like help us out, please d ms talk
36:20
Speaker 1: to us. Please talk to us because we're we're trying
36:22
Speaker 1: to figure this out. And then we have another conference
36:25
Speaker 1: coming coming up, right we do. On April twenty Twoshead
36:30
Speaker 1: will be at PCC pasted in the City College. We're
36:34
Speaker 1: not sure of our times yet, but we will be
36:36
Speaker 1: presenting fem tech right and UM and other histories FIM
36:41
Speaker 1: stories at PC so we'll keep you posted on the
36:45
Speaker 1: exact details, but that's coming up soon. We tentatively have
36:50
Speaker 1: something else in the works for you know, mid April,
36:55
Speaker 1: but we're going to keep that under sure. Yeah, we'll
37:00
Speaker 1: be posting more more photos information about Tony La Negra
37:05
Speaker 1: and about Ima Suma on our Instagram. Let us know, like,
37:10
Speaker 1: who are your favorite divas? Maybe that don't get enough hype,
37:14
Speaker 1: that don't get enough hype, don't get enough love. We
37:17
Speaker 1: want to learn about more divas. We want to add too,
37:20
Speaker 1: because you know we I think a lot of times
37:23
Speaker 1: end up celebrating the same women over and over it.
37:25
Speaker 1: And I love I love Free to Call, Oh, I
37:27
Speaker 1: love Slanta. But there's more, you know, we have like
37:30
Speaker 1: so many mores that came before us, from our home countries,
37:34
Speaker 1: from our communities that have created such beautiful art from
37:37
Speaker 1: the Caribbean as well. There's so many, so many talented
37:40
Speaker 1: women that have come before us. So tell us, tell
37:43
Speaker 1: us who your favorite divas? Who has inspired you? Who
37:47
Speaker 1: has inspired your glam, your outlook on life? You know,
37:51
Speaker 1: who did you list girl up listening to? Or who
37:54
Speaker 1: have you newly discovered that really speaks to your soul? Yeah, yeah,
37:59
Speaker 1: let us know us. Okay, thank you for tuning in,
38:02
Speaker 1: Thank you for keeping time. Thank you for spending Brown
38:05
Speaker 1: Girl Hour with us once again. We'll see you next time,
38:08
Speaker 1: and we'll talk to you next. We'll talk to you
38:09
Speaker 1: next time they see us.