Lionel Belasco
Template:Use dmy dates Template:More citations needed Lionel Belasco (Maracaibo (Venezuela) 20 September 1881 – Template:Circa) also known as Lionel "Lanky" Belasco was a pianist, arranger, composer, promoter and bandleader from Trinidad and Tobago.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> Belasco was a pianist, composer and bandleader best known for his Calypso recordings.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Biography
According to various sources, Belasco was born in Maracaibo (Venezuela), the son of an Afro-Caribbean mother and a Sephardic Jewish father. He spent his early childhood in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and grew up in Trinidad. He traveled widely in the Caribbean and South America in his youth, absorbing a wide variety of musical influences. As well as working as a musician performing for the elite, Belasco worked in the function of manager and promoter at London Electric Theater in Port of Spain, Trinidad.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The London Electric Theater was the first movie theatre in the capital city of Trinidad.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was leading his own band by 1902, and made his first phonograph recordings in Trinidad in 1914.<ref>Richie Unterberger, "Artist Biography" at AllMusic.</ref>
Belasco played with a band called the Carib Singers and led the band Belasco’s Renowned String Band.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Recorded songs include a folk Calypso tune titled, "Wash-Pan-Wash", which was identified under the genre "Paseo". Belasco recorded the Spanish Waltz "Lucille" around 1935.<ref name=":0" />
Belasco claimed that "Rum and Coca Cola," a big hit in the 40s, was based on a calypso called "L'Année Passée" that he had published in a song folio in 1943.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> "L'Année" in turn was actually based on a Martinquean folk song, although Belasco claimed to have written it in the early 1900s.
See also
References
External links
- Lionel Belasco recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20110616102802/http://www.nalis.gov.tt/Biography/bio_Lionel_Belasco1.html
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- 1881 births
- 1967 deaths
- American bandleaders
- 20th-century American Sephardic Jews
- American people of Trinidad and Tobago descent
- American people of Venezuelan-Jewish descent
- American calypsonians
- Trinidad and Tobago calypsonians
- People from Maracaibo
- Musicians from Port of Spain
- 20th-century Trinidad and Tobago male singers
- 20th-century Trinidad and Tobago singers
- Venezuelan Jews
- Afro-Caribbean music
- Afro-Caribbean culture
- Pianists
- Pianist stubs
- Caribbean artists