Tune Req: Julianne

Subject: Tune Req: Julianne
From: Prof Peter
Date: 26 Apr 22 - 02:58 AM

Good day to you all. I am looking for information about a tune called Julianne. I heard it on a TubaSkinny recording (Quarantine Album) they published a couple of years ago. Any help is welcome.
Peter

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Julianne
From: Helen
Date: 26 Apr 22 - 03:02 AM

Video here:

Tuba Skinny - Julianne

Could you be more specific, please? What information are you looking for exactly?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Julianne
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Apr 22 - 04:37 AM

Interesting tune. Sure isn't the New Christy Minstrels' "Julianne."

Here's the recording on Bandcamp, but I don't see songwriter credits:

https://tubaskinny.bandcamp.com/album/quarantine-album-unreleased-b-sides

This page says the song was written by Lionel Belasco; about 1937. Caribbean-style.

Here's the Lionel Belasco recording of "Juliana":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3lTYt0blY4

Notes: Lionel Belasco (1881 -- 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 an Afro-Caribbean mother and a Sephardic Jewish father. He travelled 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 unusual as a calypsonian in the fact that his instrument was the piano, (not exactly the best instrument for the calypso tent.) It is because of this that his style is more orchestrated and arranged. Instead of marching the streets or playing the tents, as was the custom for the average calypsonian, he instead became a darling of the local elites, playing the high class balls and debutante dances. In fact, around this time (1903-4) he began giving piano tutorials to the mayor's daughter. Don Hill, an expert on the subject, who wrote detailed liner notes on the "Goodnight Ladies and Gents, the creole music of Lionel Belasco" CD, claims that "According to rumour", he taught her a bit more than simply how to play the piano.... she was shipped back to England in disgrace, and Belasco was forced to flee to New York, where he died.

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

During his stay in Maracaibo, Venezuela, in the late 1930s, he wrote waltzes with a local flavour (Luna de Maracaibo) 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.

Aldemaro Romero once said about Lionel Belasco that he was the first who jazzed the Venezuelan music, in the 30's.

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

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Julianne
From: Prof Peter
Date: 27 Apr 22 - 01:45 AM

Thank you very much for this reaction. I love it when I read the story behind a song or tune. The reason I did not find any references on the web must be the fact that Tuba Skinny misspelled the title on their CD. Double 'n' instead of single 'n'. Thanks to the information here I was able to find sheetmusic. (https://www.scribd.com/document/462934727/Juliana-Lionel-Belasco-Vals-Mel-Cif-2-pdf)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Julianne
From: leeneia
Date: 27 Apr 22 - 03:53 PM

Another happy ending! That's a delightful piece of music, Prof Peter.