The Venezuelan Waltzes of Lionel Belasco
Comments: 4
My brother sent me the soundtrack to Ghost World because we were both so taken with the Skip James number.
Turns out the real find for me was Lionel Belasco, a pianist and bandleader who was born in Barbados in about 1882 (Rounder lets you listen to the tracks on “Goodnight Ladies & Gents” in Windows Media or Real Audio). His Venezuelan waltzes, calypsos and paseos are absolutely captivating. Wilmoth Houdini provides vocals on a number of tracks.
Belasco started working professionally when he was still in school — the earliest recording on the album dates from 1914. Leonard DePaur recorded an interview with him in New York in 1961 in which he plays some fragments, so pretty much half the 20th century is covered (snippets from the interview are included on the disc). “Go Away Gal,” a track recorded from a piano roll that Belasco cut for QRS in the early ’20s sounds like Fats Waller on vacation in the Caribbean. Apparently Belasco ran a piano shop in Harlem and his son remembers musicians — including Waller — stopping by on their way to gigs to play for a while and warm up.
Harlem in the ’30s … just imagine what you could have heard.
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Posted to The Good • 2003.04.29 (Tue) • 00:38
Comments
Posted by DJSUBg 2003.04.29, 13:52
My favorite is Mohammed Rafi’s - Jaan Pehechaan Ho. Brought back memories of my parents playing old skool Bollywood tracks on a beat up turntable when i was a kid.
Posted by Beverley Davis 2003.12.02, 12:08
So pleased that others are interested in this fabulous music/musician.
Posted by Judy 2005.10.31, 11:59
Our family is so happy to have the CD available. My husband, his brothers and sister had none of their grandfathers music until it came out. They had heard it when they visited their grandmother Gladys in New Yorkwhen they were young, but had nothing now. It is such a great slice of his work and now their children can hear his music too.
Posted by Alan 2005.12.28, 03:21
This was a great CD, that every Trinidadian interested in his culture and past and the cultural fabric of our soceity should own. Thanks to Rounder Records! This cd is a treasure.
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