[78-L] The Samoan Troupe on Columbia Viva-tonal J series

[Malcolm Rockwell]

Roger -
Very, VERY nice find! They are all by Tau Moe's troupe and were recorded 
in Tokyo c. September 1929. Tau and his family are all Hawaiian (from 
Oahu) and They were one of the first Hawaiian groups to go around the 
world performing. Tokyo was at the start of one such circumnavigation 
and you now own 5 of the six records they cut there.
They should bring very nice dollarbucks on eBay. I'd make you an offer 
but I can't afford one!
Tau recorded 78s in Tokyo, Shanghai, Bombay, Calcutta, Honolulu, Vienna, 
Copenhagen, Hamburg and Zurich between 1929 and 1955.
Congratulations!
Malcolm

*******

On 6/8/2013 11:37 AM, Roger Wade wrote:
> I've come across 5 nice Columbia Viva-tonal black label 10-inch 78s by "The Samoan Troupe", with catalog numbers and matrices that I can't find any information on.
>
> The descriptive note on the right side of the labels reads "Hawaiian-Samoan Vocal" (or Instrumental).
>
> The catalog numbers are:
>
> J 781, J 782, J 818, J 792, and J 793.
>
> Matrices are between 32253 and 32266.
>
> Is anyone familiar with these?
>
> The style of Viva-tonal label appears to be late 1920s but with no patents listed.  Also, the matrix and catalog numbers are on the same line, next to each other with the matrix first, at the bottom of the label.
>
> The musical style is indistinguishable from the Hawaiian recordings of the time, at least to my non-expert ears.
>
>   
> Best regards,
>
> Roger Wade
>