• First of all: Webmaster Cas has completely restyled the green and blue identity cards of all pioneers.
  The information is much better organized now.


• Good news for all lovers and researchers of Greek music, especially rebetika freaks!
• Here finally is an (annotated) version of Edmund Michael Innes’ excellent in-depth report on the situation of His Master’s Voice in Greece in 1930. It was commissioned by HMV itself.
  I thank Alan Kelly for allowing me access to his discographical research.
• Pioneer Tetos DEMETRIADES has been added to the list.
• For some "live" recordings of rebetika (Greek music) see the next item.


• The THANK YOU page has also undergone some radical changes. Where it says: Dedicated to the memory of Loes Strötbaum (1940-2008) and Iordanis Tsomidis (1933-2006) two new icons have been installed.
  When you click on the icon of the painter’s palette, a number of artworks which Loes Strötbaum made over the years.
  Bas Plaatsman digitalized the collection.
  
  When you click on the bouzouki, you can listen to some unpolished rebetika recordings of bouzouki giant Iordanis TSOMIDIS.
  Put on your earphones and turn up the volume!


• Researcher Du Jun Min sent me copies of the Charles Wesley CARSON papers from the Jim Walsh Collection.
  These papers consist of (mostly typescript) correspondence between Columbia and C. W. Carson, dating back to the period 1904-1907.
  I transcribed a number of letters which were handwritten and therefore not always easy to read.
  Fortunately I was able to compare my versions to those made by Ross Laird, and this resulted in almost 100% reliable renderings of the originals.
  On the basis of this correspondence the files on CARSON and Harry MARKER will have to be adapted (next time).


• Philip Yampolsky sent me photocopies of the articles which were written by Thomas John Theobald NOBLE (published in 1913 in the American trade journal “The Talking Machine World”).
  In these articles Noble gives an account of his recording trips in Russia, Central Asia and India, working as a recording expert for Pathé.
  As far as I know, the series is now complete.
  (look under “DOCUMENTS” or “NOBLE, Thomas John Theobald”).
  
  At the moment I am making a reconstruction of Noble’s recording activities for Pathé and a map of Asia indicating the various recording locations.
  
  By the way, the above-mentioned Yampolsky wrote an extensive article on Indonesian Kroncong music (“Kroncong Revisited: New Evidence from Old Sources”) which was recently published in Archipel 79 of 2010 (Paris).


• Anyone interested in Russian pirate labels should have a look at the APPENDIX at the end of Noble’s St Petersburg story, part #3.
  (again look under “DOCUMENTS” or “NOBLE, Thomas John Theobald”).


• Alfred Collins SKELSON’s list of recording sessions is now complete, thanks to Alan Kelly.
  Thanks to me, Alan now knows what tragic event caused Skelson’s matrix series to end so abruptly in 1923...


• Have a look at the latest version of “Unsere Reise um die Erde”, Heinrich Bumb’s account of the 1905-1906 BEKA expedition.
  We have added a number of original illustrations and a large amount of new ones, mostly contemporary postcards.
  (look under ”DOCUMENTS” or “BUMB”).
  Downloading may take half a minute.

Many thanks to Webmaster Cas, Toon Pennings and Lourens