Names - Voices from the Past..

just the other day someone mentioned Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer (Umm -variable spelling-means Mother, btw).
That sent me back in time to the 50's in Vienna.
Friends from the Middle East kept playing her songs for me .. mesmerizing, strange, unfathomable sounds.
And into my head pop other names:
Edith Piaf - what huge sound emerged from this tiny Chanteuse of Paris?
Zarah Leander, a voice a Basso Profundo could envy ;-)!
The "Nuschler" Arch-Viennese comic singer/actor Hans Moser.
I have already bloged about the Incan Yma Sumac, with a range that defies belief.
And Elena Nikolaidi.. Greek opera singer, nick-named "Sopralto" (Soprano-Contralto-alas the recording is mono)
And then "Missa Luba"...African choirboys singing Mass. Incredible beauty from afar.
Am sure I can come up with many more, but above are a few clips to enjoy and be awed!