Lionel Belasco

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Lionel Belasco (born 1881; died in New York City, c. June 24, 1967) was a prominent pianist, composer and bandleader, best known for his calypso recordings. According to various sources, he was born either in Barbados or in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; he grew up in Trinidad, the son of a Afro-Caribbean mother and a Sephardic Jewish father. He traveled widely in the Caribbean and South America in his youth, absorbing a wide variety of musical influences. He was leading his own band by 1902. He made his first phonograph recordings in Trinidad in 1914, and soon after first traveled to New York City, where he made more recordings and set up a publishing business. He would continue to travel back and forth between New York and Trinidad for the rest of his life.

He is originally the famous interpolator of the Martiniquan Folksong L'Anne Passee, a tragic song about a Martiniquan girl who became a prostitute in Trinidad. The melody of the song was used in the song for which Lord Invader became famous.

During his stay in Maracaibo, Venezuela, in the late thirties, he wrote waltzes with a local flavour (Luna de Maracaiibo)and introduced a touch of jazz in some of them (i.e. Juliana). He also wrote the calypso Margarita, recorded by the Cuban singer Vicentico Valdés in New York in the sixties.

He also was featured in the soundtrack for the 2001 film, "Ghost World."