Photo by Doug Garland ’10
FIU’s Diaz-Ayala Cuban and Latin American Popular Music Collection comprises more than 150,000 items, among them books, sheet music and thousands of records.
The Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation has awarded FIU Libraries a grant to digitize some of the oldest and rarest recordings. The project will make available on the internet the best examples of popular music from various countries between 1900 and 1929. Among the highlighted musical styles: danzón, bolero, rumba and foxtrot.
Librarian Veronica Gonzalez, who specializes in working with the collection, says that digitizing will make the music accessible to those who wish to study, for example, song lyrics as a primary source of information.
“They can do research through music, not just research about music,” she explains. “Research about history, about social issues of the time, politics. Many disciplines can be researched through the recordings.”
The oldest, made in New York in August of 1900, features Cuban soprano Rosalia “Chalia” Herrera singing the Italian “Il Bacio.” The song can be heard in the accompanying video. Other recording in the collection can be heard at the links below.
“El tamalero”
78 rpm sound disc, 10 in. Victor 77844-A. dialogo-comico. Recorded in Havana, Cuba, 1921. Interpreted by Los Negritos de Palatino, Antonio Lima and Maria Piedra. Full File.
“Los impuestos”
78 rpm sound disc, 10 in. Victor 73876-A. dialogo-comico. Recorded in Havana, Cuba, 1922. Interpreted by Regino Lopez and Sra. Plaza. Composed by Regino Lopez. Full File.
“Dulce Habana”
78 rpm sound disc, 10 in. Columbia 2967-X-A. Fox-trot, recorded in Cuba in 1927. Composed by Rosendo Ruiz Suarez. Interpreted by F. de la Riera. Demo file.
“Guajirita”
78 rpm sound disc, 10 in. Victor 81944-A. Tango, recorded in New York in 1927. Composed by Santiago Sampel and Manuel Sanchez de Leon. Interpreted by Mariano Melendez. Full file.