Belf's Romanian Orchestra
Belf's Romanian Orchestra (Russian: Румынскiй оркестръ подъ упр. В. Бельфа, Romanian orchestra under the direction of V. Belʹf) was a Jewish music recording ensemble from the Russian Empire.[1][2] Although little is known about them, their numerous recordings for Syrena Rekord during the period of 1911 to 1914 are among the earliest documented examples of recorded klezmer music and are played in a style very different from the better-known American klezmer recordings of the 1910s and 1920s.[1][3][4]
History
This small
The period of recordings by this group began when the director of Sirena, Philip Lazarevich Tempel, was expanding the company aggressively in 1911 and attempting to enter "ethnic" markets.
Legacy
Because the Belf recordings were mass-produced and sold widely, copies were still circulating by the 1970s and attracted the interest of Klezmer revivalists. The tracks began to appear on reissue albums, including Klezmer music (1910-1927): early Yiddish instrumental music (Folklyric, 1983),[10] Klezmer pioneers: European and American recordings, 1905-1952 (Rounder Records, 1993),[11] Yikhes (Lineage): early klezmer recordings, 1911-1939, from the collection of Prof. Martin Schwartz (Trikont, 1995),[12] Klezmer music: early Yiddish instrumental music, 1908-1927 (Arhoolie, 1997),[13] Warsaw's Jewish mermaid: Syrena recordings from the Orvomaa archive 1909-1933 (Renair Records, 2018),[14] and a number of others. The richly ornamented style of the recordings and the interplay of the instruments in a smaller ensemble have influenced revival groups in recent decades.[15] Currently the largest collection of Belf recordings is available in the Mayrent Collection of Yiddish Recordings at UW-Madison.[16]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wollock, Jeffrey (1997). "European Recordings of Jewish Folk Music, 1911-1914" (PDF). ARSC Journal. XXVIII (1): 36–55.
- ^ "Sirena-Rekord Story". Belfology. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
- ISBN 9780190244514.
- S2CID 241747140.
- ^ a b c d e Feldman, Walter Zev (2003). Steinlauf, Michael C.; Polonsky, Antony (eds.). "Remembrance of Things Past: Klezmer Musicians of Galicia, 1870-1940". Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry. 16. Portland, OR: The Institute for Polish-Jewish Studies/The American Association for Polish-Jewish Studies: 29–57.
- ISBN 9781580465984.
- ISBN 9780190244514.
- ISBN 9780190244514.
- ^ Тихонов, А. (2003). "Рекорд "Сирены"" (PDF). Звукорежиссёр (in Russian). 7: 60–2.
- OCLC 42554519. Retrieved 4 May 2022 – via WorldCat.
- OCLC 30142056. Retrieved 4 May 2022 – via WorldCat.
- OCLC 37970803. Retrieved 7 May 2022 – via WorldCat.
- OCLC 38119710. Retrieved 4 May 2022 – via WorldCat.
- OCLC 1038428841. Retrieved 4 May 2022 – via WorldCat.
- ISBN 9780190244514.
- ^ "Mayrent Collection of Yiddish Recordings - Collection - UWDC - UW-Madison Libraries". UW-Madison library. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
External links
- Belf's Romanian Orchestra recordings in the Mayrent Collection at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Belfology - lead sheet transcription of roughly 40 Belf's Orchestra recordings
- Belf recordings and discographic information on Russian Records
- Belf Orchestra recordings on the Internet Archive