Down the rabbit hole...

Wikipedia is the best/worst invention for those of us with an attention span of a gnat. I started out just trying to find music for a tiki themed party I am throwing this Saturday, and got lost reading about tiki culture (which I am finding is based on appropriating Polynesian culture. Being American. Sigh.)

So... I am looking for names and then going to Spotify, which I LOVE, and listening to a whole selection of music I was vaguely aware of, but never intentionally listened to.Whoa, for having a reputation of being repressed, the 50's sure supported some out-there music. Yma Sumac, who I didn't know by name but having heard her, recognized the sound. Shrill near-yells and guttural, throaty almost operatic;  not what came to mind when I thought of 1950. So weird, so beautiful, so what I am listening to all Saturday while I make frothy rum-and-pineapple drinks.

While I have mixed feelings about the idea of tiki culture - making mugs of out of another culture's gods - the music that is a result of post-WWII American's obsession with Polynesia is truly wonderful.

Give her a listen: Lovely Yma!