GINO BORDIN ...Virtuose de la guitare hawaienne

( thank you to Pascal Mesnier for the above photo)

Our 2009 Grass Skirt release features Gino Bordin, Italian born Parisian wizard of the Hawaiian guitar ! It  covers in the main Gino's early career ( roughly 1930 to 1937/8) when he was the leading Hawaiian steel guitarist in Paris and a firm devotee of the Selmer 7 string acoustic steel . One later track from the early 40s on electric steel rounds off the 25 song collection.

We include a lavishly illustrated 44 page booklet with notes , written by Cyril LeFebvre, in both French and English . You will be able to read  about Gino's career and those of some of his best known and favourite musician friends, like Alex Manara, Francesco Cariolato , Boris Sarbeck and vocalists Guy Berry, Robert Buguet and of course Tino Rossi ...plus the mysterious violinist Charles Paknadel . There are plenty of vintage photos, old record labels and sheet music graphics . And of course all tracks have been transferred and remastered by Ted Kendall , and we have another cover design by Robert Armstrong and Patty Graves.

( above :cover of 1931 Parlophone catalogue)

Furthermore Michael Simmons ( Editor at large, Fretboard Journal magazine) kindly gave us some wonderful photos of his own Selmer Maccaferri Hawaiian guitar( just like Gino's) to illustrate the booklet...the latter beautifully designed by Philippe Krouk in Paris. See the separate page on this site devoted to Selmer for some great shots of Michael's instrument ( and a plug for both Fretboard Journal magazine and François Charle's fine book which is now back in print )

above : a very rare piece of Gino sheet music

above: rare sheet music of a Gino collaboration with accordéon ace Gus Viseur

Si vous désirez commander  le CD Gino Bordin...Grass Skirt ( £12   plus £1 frais d'envoi) cliquez sus le bouton ci-dessous.