Fwd: The lost recordings of Mercedes Carné and Carlos Di Sarli

["Richard L. Hess" <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, ARSC folks--

This came in on the AMIA list and I'm not sure all of you are subscribed to 
that list as well--if anyone can help, please email Jorge directly

======================

Date:         Thu, 10 May 2001 22:21:33 -0700
From: Jorge Finkielman <finki_1@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject:      The lost recordings of Mercedes Carné and Carlos Di Sarli

  Que tal:

  This is more related to recording than film
archivist but since in Argentina you have to be able
to work with movies, radio, television, publications,
recordings and anything else I have nowhere else to
turn.

  One of the most important Argentinean musicians and
composer is Carlos Di Sarli. During the silent era he
performed background music at the Renacimiento movie
theater (with the music, as normal, never matching the
action on the screen) here in Buenos Aires. In 1928 he
began his discography at the RCA Victor studios until
1931 when, as many other great and talent musicians,
were fired by the management of the company during the
sound film revolution. In 1939, Carlos Di Sarli and
his orchestra returned to RCA Victor.

  Despite RCA destroyed most of their archives, which
included many of Di Sarli' versions, I have most of
his discography and sometime later this year I will
complete it with all those recordings that the
incompetent managers of the entertainment industry
destroyed.

  Unfortunately, there are still lost recordings.

  Shortly after been fired from Victor, Di Sarli went
to Brunswick to perform background music for singer
Mercedes Carné. But those recordings began before
Victor merchandised Di Sarli's final records for them
and for that reason his name never appeared on the
Mercedes Carné recordings. (And this is why these
versions are not included in "el señor del tango"'s
own discography.)

  Mercedes Carné was a popular and an excellent singer
that made 22 recordings with Di Sarli, one with
Edgardo Donato and two for Odeon (this two were never
printed). During the late thirties she turned to
acting and made a lot of soap operas in our local
radio stations before retiring in the sixties.

  Of the recordings she made with Carlos Di Sarli, I
do have eleven. The others are lost.

  Here is a partial list of the themes which are
impossible to find:

AY... JACOBO (humoristic shotis), 1931
LUPE (waltz, dedicated to Lupe Velez), 1931
ME ESTAS ENLOQUECIENDO (fox-trot), 1932
CLYDE (waltz), 1932
SOY TU ESCLAVO (pasodoble), 1932
QUE LO LARGUEN, (tango), 1932

  When a film or a recording company closes its door
the first thing they others do is to get the
copyrights and the archives in order to exploit the
recorings. Lately, Universal aquired the rights of the
Argentinean company Music-Hall. I don't know how they
got them but I do know that those recordings (the ones
they bother to reprint) are much more expensive than
when they marketed by the original company (which by
the way, also bought the archives of other companies
like TK and H&R).

  When Brunswick closed its doors in 1932 nobady cared
for those recordings and that explains why the
original masters (which always have a terrible sound
quality) ended as garbage.

  If someone does have those recordings please let me
know. Carlos Di Sarli is a great musician and some
people in this list knows quite well why.


  Saludos


  JORGE FINKIELMAN


Richard L. Hess                              richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Glendale, CA USA                           http://www.richardhess.com/
Web page: folk and church music, photography, and
                 broadcast engineering