During the mid eighties the Trinidad and Tobago economy experienced sustained turbulence
with three successive devaluations. Sanch faced the formidable challenge of obtaining foreign
exchange to import high-end equipment for resale with speaker systems that we manufactured.
Since our needs were not a priority for the Central Bank, funds had to be generated and the
company diversified into producing real-time cassettes of local music for universal consumption.
Around 1986 I met Amelia Haygood founder of Delos. Her expert team consisted of renowned
concert pianist/ vice president of A&R Carol Rosenberger, acclaimed recording engineer John
Eargle, and a few other stalwarts. With them, Amelia carved an impeccable niche for a well-
balanced repertoire of classical and jazz music performed mainly by American artistes.
A subsequent business relationship with Delos led to production of fourteen CDs of my early
recordings, consisting mainly of acoustic ensembles and steel orchestras. Under the banner
Caribbean Carnival Series, these were released from 1987 to 1995 when the Sanch label
evolved. In those days, my portable rig consisted of a pair of Bruel and Kjaer (now DPA)
reference omnidirectional microphones and a Nakamichi DMP 100 encoder.
The first-generation recording equipment was superseded in 1997 by the technologically
superior HDCD® equivalent. This was co-invented by ‘Professor’ Keith O. Johnson and Michael
‘Pflash’ Pfaumer for Pacific Microsonics. The HDCD® proprietary technology is widely accepted
to be the most accurate analogue to digital conversion process ever created.
I have recently begun communicating again with Carol who lamented the passing of Amelia and
John in 2007. She has since assumed the role of executive producer and convinced me to
resume distribution of the Delos catalogue in Trinidad. I was also informed that quite a number
of recordings featuring prominent Russian artistes are now available for digital downloading.
Carol herself has not recorded since her Bridge Chamber Concerto with conductor Constantine
Orbelian and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra (2002, recorded at Skywalker Studio), but hopes
that she will soon be able to present the world with some new solo repertoire. Along with her
many fans, her famous Bösendorfer Imperial Concert Grand piano, affectionately called Bösie,
awaits her return. In the interim, one of her earlier presentations entitled Water Music of the
Impressionists remains one of my all-time favourites.
Simeon L Sandiford
Managing Director