[78-L] 78 Album Sets outside the US & Canada - Musik des Orients

[goldenbough at arcor.de]

Thanks for all the details about the various 'Music of the Orient' sets. 

My cloth-bound Parlophone copy does not show the set number P-57 
anywhere, inside or outside. Neither does my German Lindström 
cardboard album. 
And I have never seen the actual Decca album. I have only individual 
discs - which do not show on the labels any indication of an 'order 
number' for the set.  

The large letter 'K' on the German Odeons and Parlophons indicates 
that the album was issued by Lindström's the 'Kunstabteilung' ('arts 
department), possibly to make clear that these discs are 'loss leaders', 
and the stock does not necessarily have to be profitable (?).  The 
'Kunstabteilung' at Lindström was also in charge of publishing the 
200-page Lindström anniversary book for shareholders ('26 years 
Lindström 1904-1929'). 

This 'coffee table book' covers 'exotic recordings' in a separate chapter, 
with many photos of unusual labels, shops and offices of their 
representatives around the globe. Beka, Parlophon, Odeon had huge 
catalogs: Arabic, Indian, Turkish, Chinese, Armenian, Brazilian, Bulgarian, 
Russian, Siamese, Hebrew, Persian, Lithuanian, Moroccan, Portuguese....  

It was from such previously published records that Erich von Hornbostel 
made his selection of recordings for the 'Musik des Orients' album.  

Indeed, it is surprising that some of these exotic records show numbers 
in the Odeon O-4xxx series which was for general German popular music. 

Finally, I think that Steve Shapiro is right: the Hornbostel cylinder set 
was more likely to have 120 instead of my supposed 200 cylinders. 

Benno 

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