ABSTRACT
A company formed in Berlin, in October 1904. It was founded by the Bumb and Kînig’s Institute for Modern Inventions, which had been set up in 1903 by Heinrich Bumb and a partner named Kînig; it is supposed that the firm’s name emerged from their initials. Beka made double-sided discs in 1904, among the earliest to be marketed in Europe. Label names were Beka, Beka Grand Record, Beka Ideal, Beka Meister Record, Beka Saphir Record, and Beka Sinfonie Record, in seven-inch, eight-inch, 10-inch, 11-inch, and 12-inch sizes. In 1906 Beka was selling seven-inch discs in Britain for only one shilling, forcing a price war with Zonophone. By 1907 the company was offering an international disc catalog of 224 pages, including items in Arabic and Asian languages. This catholicity resulted from a remarkable voyage made by Bumb in 1905-1906 to record local genres; he visited Eastern Europe, Egypt, India, Burma, Java, China, and Japan. Vocal recordings were dominant, but the singers were not of great distinction; an exception was Zélie de Lussan, who did four items in 1906. Although a special recording ensemble, the Meister Orchester, was established in 1911, the instrumental repertoire was not exploited. Beka records had a grotesque trademark evidently patterned on Nipper, showing a flamingo listening to a gramophone horn. There was overlapping in the output of Beka, Scala, and Coliseum labels; in some cases an identical singer appeared on more than one of them, using different names. The company also made gramophones, with tapered tone arms; a reprint of their 1911/1912 equipment catalog is found in TMR #50 (1978). The firm changed its name to Beka Record Actien-Gesellschaft in 1910. After 1916 the company was acquired by the Carl Lindstrîm group. [TMR 50 (1978); Want 1976.]
FRANK ANDREWS
Disc record label of Bel Canto Record GmbH, Berlin, established in August 1909. Some of the material was British and some was from Dacapo recordings. The London agent was John G. Murdoch and Co., Ltd., who also did recording for Bel Canto. [Andrews 1990.]
American popular and folksinger, born Harold George Belafonte, Jr., in New York City. He lived with his family in Jamaica from 1935 to 1940, absorbing the calypso style that
he later helped to make famous in the U.S. After navy service in World War II he appeared as a pop singer in Broadway clubs and then nationally. Belafonte achieved success as a folksinger at New York’s Village Vanguard and elsewhere. He secured a Victor recording contract in 1952, and appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and other television programs. Belafonte had 20 chart albums. His most important recordings were calypso songs he put to disc in 1956-1957, including “Jamaica Farewell” (Victor 6663; 1956), “Day-O (Banana Boat Song)” (Victor 6771; 1957), and the 1956 Victor album Calypso (#LPM 1248), which was on the charts 58 weeks. Belafonte won Grammys for two RCA Victor albums, Swing dat Hammer (#LSP 2194; 1960) and Belafonte Folk Singers at Home and Abroad (billed as the Belafonte Folk Singers; 1961). An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba (Victor LPM 3420; 1965), was another Grammy-winning album. Belafonte has been less active as a recording artist since the mid-1960s, focusing his work on acting and political and social causes. He did participate in the “We Are the World” charity recording project in 1985. He was awarded a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2000.
