From "Santa Esmeralda" ... to "Generation Esmeralda" (archival-documentary review of musical heritage)

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From “Santa Esmeralda” ... to “Generation Esmeralda” (archival-documentary review of musical heritage)

Synieokyi O.V., Kremenchuk Mykhailo Ostrohradskyi National University

The problem of studying the archival musical heritage requires a new scientific understanding. It is acknowledged that many interesting iconic music projects have been left out of the research interest, one of which is the French-American disco band SANTA ESMERALDA. Hence the article presents a documentary analysis of the musical heritage of SANTA ESMERALDA. The peculiarities of the origin and further creative development of this project are revealed. In particular, attention is focused on the study of the communicative conditions of functioning and the reasons for the transformation of SANTA ESMERALDA in the show business system in view of the repertoire and genre changes. The author examines sound documents published under the brand name SANTA ESMERALDA and related projects, identifying the most productive creative solutions for the creation of musical material and its promotion.

Based on the discographic analysis of musical sound documents and other sources, the chronological picture of SANTA ESMERALDA was reconstructed, where key episodes of the band's history are combined by lines of communication through the prism of the general history of world popular music. The methodological basis is an interdisciplinary approach based on a set of general scientific (comparison, analysis, synthesis, generalization) and special methods defined by the purpose and objectives. The study is based on the author's hypothesis, according to which disco as a social phenomenon has a special informational nature and is an optional element of mass communication.

The empirical basis of the study is the material with the appropriate archival sound recordings. A complete periodization of the phonographic heritage of SANTA ESMERALDA (including a number of unofficial sound documents) is proposed. The author's special contribution is to clarify the chronology of a number of events. The author concludes that in the history ofpopular music (in particular, in the entertainment sector) a place of honor is occupied by the project SANTA ESMERALDA, whose participants were able not only to combine such musical genres as “Rock”, “Disco” and “Flamenco” - they succeeded organically draw lines of communication between the Anglo-American, Francophone and Latin American worlds ofpopular music, adding to this Latin specific features.

Key words: Album, Disco, Don Ray, Jimmy Goings, Latin, Leroy Gomez, Nicolas Skorsky, Records, Rock Music, Santa Esmeralda.

Â³ä «Ñàíòà Åñìåðàëüäà»... äî «Ïîêîë³ííÿ Åñìåðàëüäè» (àðõ³âíî-äîêóìåíòàëüíèé îãëÿä ìóçè÷íî¿ ñïàäùèíè)

Ñèíºîêèé Î.Â

Ïðîáëåìà âèâ÷åííÿ àðõ³âíî¿ ìóçè÷íî¿ ñïàäùèíè âèìàãຠíîâîãî íàóêîâîãî ðîçóì³ííÿ. Âèçíàºòüñÿ, ùî ïîçà äîñë³äíèöüêîþ óâàãîþ çàëèøèëîñÿ äîñèòü áàãàòî ö³êàâèõ çíàêîâèõ ìóçè÷íèõ ïðîåêò³â, îäíèì ³ç ÿêèõ º ôðàíêî-àìåðèêàíñüêà äèñêî-ãðóïïà SANTA ESMERALDA. Ó ñòàòò³ âèêëàäåíî äîêóìåíòàëüíèé àíàë³ç ìóçè÷íî¿ ñïàäùèíè SANTA ESMERALDA. Ðîçêðèòî îñîáëèâîñò³ âèíèêíåííÿ òà ïîäàëüøîãî òâîð÷îãî ðîçâèòêó çàçíà÷åíîãî ïðîåêòó. Çîêðåìà, óâàãó çîñåðåäæåíî íà âèâ÷åíí³ êîìóí³êàòèâíèõ óìîâ ôóíêö³îíóâàííÿ òà ïðè÷èí òðàíñôîðìàö³é SANTA ESMERALDA ó ñèñòåì³ øîó-á³çíåñó ç îãëÿäó íà ðåïåðòóàðíî-æàíðîâ³ çì³íè. Àâòîð äîñë³äæóº ôîíîäîêóìåíòè, ùî âèéøëè ï³ä ìàðêîþ áðåíäó SANTA ESMERALDA òà ñóì³æíèõ ïðîåêò³â, âèçíà÷àþ÷è íàéá³ëüø ïðîäóêòèâí³ òâîð÷³ ð³øåííÿ ³ç ïðèâîäó ñòâîðåííÿ ìóçè÷íîãî ìàòåð³àëó òà éîãî ïðîñóâàííÿ. Îïèðàþ÷èñü íà äèñêîãðàô³÷íèé àíàë³ç ìóçè÷íèõ ôîíîäîêóìåíò³â òà ³íøèõ äæåðåë, ïðîâåäåíî ðåêîíñòðóêö³þ õðîíîëîã³÷íî¿ êàðòèíè SANTA ESMERALDA, äå êëþ÷îâ³ åï³çîäè ³ñòî𳿠ãðóïè ïîºäíóþòüñÿ ë³í³ÿìè êîìóí³êàö³¿ ÷åðåç ïðèçìó çàãàëüíî¿ ³ñòî𳿠ñâ³òîâî¿ ïîïóëÿðíî¿ ìóçèêè. Ìåòîäîëîã³÷íîþ îñíîâîþ º ì³æäèñöèïë³íàðíèé ï³äõ³ä, çàñíîâàíèé íà êîìïëåêñ³ çàãàëüíîíàóêîâèõ (ïîð³âíÿííÿ, àíàë³ç, ñèíòåç, óçàãàëüíåííÿ) òà ñïåö³àëüíèõ ìåòîä³â, ùî âèçíà÷àþòüñÿ ìåòîþ òà çàâäàííÿìè. Äîñë³äæåííÿ ñïèðàºòüñÿ íà àâòîðñüêó ã³ïîòåçó, çã³äíî ç ÿêîþ äèñêî ÿê ñîö³àëüíå ÿâèùå ìຠîñîáëèâó ³íôîðìàö³éíó ïðèðîäó ³ º ôàêóëüòàòèâíèì åëåìåíòîì ìàñîâî¿ êîìóí³êàö³¿.

Åìï³ðè÷íîþ îñíîâîþ äîñë³äæåííÿ ïîñòຠìàòåð³àë ³ç â³äïîâ³äíèìè àðõ³âíèìè çâóêîçàïèñàìè. Çàïðîïîíîâàíî ïîâíó ïåð³îäèçàö³þ ôîíîãðàìíî¿ ñïàäùèíè SANTA ESMERALDA (âêëþ÷àþ÷è íåîô³ö³éí³ ôîíîäîêóìåíòè). Îñîáëèâèé âíåñîê àâòîðà ïîëÿãຠâ óòî÷íåíí³ õðîíîëî㳿 ïîä³é. Àâòîð ðîáèòü âèñíîâîê ïðî òå, ùî â ³ñòî𳿠ïîïóëÿðíî¿ ìóçèêè (çîêðåìà ó ðîçâàæàëüíîìó ñåêòîð³) ïî÷åñíå ì³ñöå çàéìຠïðîåêò SANTA ESMERALDA, ó÷àñíèêè ÿêîãî çóì³ëè íå ò³ëüêè ïîºäíàòè òàê³ ìóçè÷í³ íàïðÿìè, ÿê «ðîê», «äèñêî» ³ «ôëàìåíêî» - ¿ì âäàëîñÿ îðãàí³÷íî ïðîòÿãíóòè êîìóí³êàö³éí³ ë³í³¿ ì³æ àíãëî-àìåðèêàíñüêèì, ôðàíêîôîííèì ³ ëàòèíîàìåðèêàíñüêèì ñâ³òàìè ïîïóëÿðíî¿ ìóçèêè, äîäàâøè äî öüîãî ëàòèíñüêèõ ñïåöèô³÷íèõ ðèñ.

Êëþ÷îâ³ ñëîâà: àëüáîì, äèñêî, Äîí Ðåé, Äæèìì³ Ãî³íãñ, ëàòèíñüêèé, Ëåðîé Ãîìåñ, ͳêîëàñ Ñêîðñüê³, ãðàìïëàò³âêè, ðîê-ìóçèêà, Ñàíòà-Åñìåðàëüäà.

I hope this serves as a truthful depiction of the History of this Wonderful Musical Concept. Thanks for the opportunity and good luck to my new friend Oleg Synieokyi with this innovative works! I always wanted to Ukraine tour!

Jimmy Goings, San Francisco, GFI Entertainment Generation Esmeralda

Formulation of the problem

In 1970's Disco phenomenon has evolved as a dynamic, social communicative, multidimensional music- oriented education, the roots of which are in mass communication. This confirms the mechanisms of “feedback” that influence popular culture. Disco, as a new communication channel, has become part of the subcultural complex. Dance music was not a new phenomenon and, in fact, the disco style matured and filtered throughout the decade [1-5]. Now, however, he finally broke through and began to dominate. Rock music then predicted death, no less. However, the initially hostile relationship between Disco and Rock turned into love: soon most rockers rushed into the hot arms of disco... How did these processes affect the formation of the musical face and path in show business of such an extraordinary and original group as SANTA ESMERALDA?

Analysis of recent research and publications

The culturological nature of disco as a social and communicative phenomenon has been repeatedly the subject of scientific research. In general, musical art in the system of mass communications was the subject of scientific analysis (L. Volkov-Lannit, G. Vlasova, N. Goncharova, E. Kasyanova, G. Kvyatkovsky, A. Midler, A. Mol, K. Razlogov, etc.). In the historical context, the works of S. Dyukin, A. Zapesotsky, S. Korotkov, I. Nabok, L. Pereverzev, G. Shestakov, V. Syrov, A. Tsareva and others are especially notable.

However, it must be acknowledged that undeservedly out of the attention of research interest remained quite a few interesting iconic music projects, one of which is SANTA ESMERALDA. The complete documentary history of this prominent group (which, incidentally, was once very popular in many countries, including the former Soviet Union) is missing even in authoritative English-language sources. However, some existing materials on this subject (in particular, certain television films) contain not only many errors, but are based on a misunderstanding of the processes of formation and development of this group.

Setting objectives. Based on the discographic analysis of musical sound documents and other sources, for the first time to build a true scientific essay on the history of SANTA ESMERALDA.

Presenting main material

The concept of music band SANTA ESMERALDA is based on an incendiary synthesis of Disco, Rock and Flamenco. The origins of this remarkable project go back to 1974, when 32-year-old Raymond Donnez (aka Don Ray) tried to create a short-term studio project called QUASIMODO. A month later, Castel, with the participation of Barclay Records, promptly released a 7-inch Esmeralda. This funky soul release didn't make much of a splash. But the idea was the beginning for the whole GENERATION ESMERALDA...

A year has passed. During this time, producer, composer and singer Nicolas Skorsky wrote several dance themes “Disco Love” (1975) and “Cumba Cumba” (1976) for THE MONSTARS, and also released a solo progressive release called “Le Coup Au Coeur” (1975)... This recording was created in collaboration with Jean-Claude Petit, who by that time already had a low-budget disco-oriented album of the same name (1974). Subsequently Jean-Claude Petit became one of the important partners of SANTA ESMERALDA. But all this was not yet what was needed. And here we are again in Paris, and in the yard - the second half of 1976.

Skorsky decides to create a newfangled disco project. The initiators had no plans to create a full-fledged group - initially this new project was conceived exclusively as a studio project. Actually for this purpose `Fauves Ruma Productions' was founded the day before. For this label, Nicolas Skorsky, together with Jean-Manuel de Scarano, began their search for a vocalist. As a result, the founders' choice fell on the talented session player, saxophonist and flutist Leroy Gomez. He was an American who was born and raised was born and raised in the resort of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He, being a 14-year-old boy, with his group TAVARES managed to visit many North American and European clubs. Having moved to France, Leroy Gomez has worked in session with Gilbert Becaud, Claude Francois, Patrick Juvet and several other musicians since the early 1970s [6, p. 31-43].

The participation of Leroy Gomez in the recording of Elton John's album “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (1973) as a saxophonist turned out to be unnoticed, and his first solo success was the single “Here We Go Round” (1975), which became a lightning hit in France, Europe and Latin America... [7, p. 14-18].

Don Ray, the third informal co-founder, has proposed to name the project Santa Esmeralda. This choice, endorsed by Skorsky and Scarano, was inspired by the heroine from Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, published in 1831.

In the spring of 1977, four tunes were recorded at the Parisian Studio Des Dames. Don Ray, who helped organize and mix the soundtrack for CERRONE's debut disc “Love In C Minor” (1976) and the eponymous first-born LOVE & KISSES (1977), produced by Alec R. Costandinos, the king ofthe sound of Eurodisco 70s (his father wasArmenian, and her mother is Greek). In 1977, he managed to get a contract as a producer at Casablanca Records for the SUMERIA project), in the case of the Nicolas Skorsky project, he made disco adaptations of two originals “You're My Everything” and “Black Pot”, written by Leroy Gomez (in co-authorship: the first with Arthur Cobb, the second with Don Ray), and two cover versions of the classic repertoire of `British Invasion'.

One of the earliest (1964) repertoires by the Northern Irish garage band THEM under the direction of Van Morrison, and the second was first performed by Nina Simone in 1964 and covered in 1965 by THE ANIMALS. In the summer of 1977 under the name SANTA ESMERALDA the debut LP “Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood” was released. The success was incredible - in a few months, the 15 millionth edition was completely sold out. To date, 25 million discs have been sold, not counting singles and cassettes. The album was immediately available on vinyl, cassette and 8-track cartridge. “Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood” became the world's # 1 disco hit with 48 gold and 42 platinum albums. The single with the title 16-minute suite in an abridged version (in different versions the sounding duration ranges from 3 minutes 20 seconds to 5 minutes 25 seconds, without “Esmeralda Suite” - the fruit of the joint work of Howard Headburn, Don Ray and Arthur Cobb - he is already mentioned formerly Jean-Manuel de Scarano), as well as the sentimental ballad “You're My Everything” with strings and flamenco guitar and the danceable “Gloria” in France and many other countries topped the charts and became international hits. The arrangement was excellent - the original idea was not only preserved, but also amazingly decorated with Latin flavor. And in this field it was Don Ray who did a good job [10].

A hypnotic rhythm with a mesmerizing Latin flavor has come to the court even for inveterate lovers of exquisite rock music. In fairness, today it can be noted that the author's compositions of the young Leroy Gomez turned out to be musically convincing and no less “tasty”. His vocals sounded charming and soulful, and the pulsating background of the compositions was imbued with the “Era of Rock” rather than reminiscent of the standards of “disco”, which was rapidly gaining momentum at that time.

But Leroy Gomez's tenure with SANTA ESMERALDA as lead vocalist was short-lived. As part of his contract with Casablanca Records, he was already busy working on his first solo album, Gypsy Woman, which was scheduled for release next year. Therefore, Gomez decided to suspend his collaboration with Skorsky on this studio project. True, for the sake of fairness, it should be noted that he managed to take part in the preparation of the material for the recording of the second album. Unfortunately, Don Ray's master of arrangement was not useful for further work with SANTA ESMERALDA, and in September 1977 he continued to work with Alec Costandinos at Trident Studios (London) on the album Romeo & Juliet, which was released in 1978 in the disco style and only vaguely resembled the sound concept of the debut album SANTA ESMERALDA.

Unfortunately, on March 7, 2019, at the age of 77 in France, “one of the greatest composers, arrangers and artists in the world of dance music and orchestration” Raymond Donnez passed away - millions of recordings bore his name, and his amazing arrangements will forever remain in history dance music.

Disagreements among the principles left the initial creators Skorsky and De Scarano in need of a new arranger, and a new Lead Singer for the follow Album, to be titled “The House of the Rising Sun”. Jimmy Goings would join the concept in December of 1977. When the work on the soundtrack for the next album “House of the Rising Sun” was almost completed, Nicolas Skorsky invited Jimmy Goings. And such a replacement turned out to be worthy! Jimmy Goings joined the project in December 1977 and promptly recorded vocals for the nearly finished album. At the very end of 1977, House of the Rising Sun was released, accompanied by the signs SANTA ESMERALDA II, SANTA ESMERALDA Starring Jimmy Goings and SANTA ESMERALDA with Jimmy Goings. This album was recorded not just by “freelance musicians” (it was not possible to reliably establish the full lineup of all session musicians who took part in the creation of the debut album of SANTA ESMERALDA), but a full-fledged group consisting of lead vocalist Jimmy Goings, keyboardist, arranger and composer Jean -Claude Petit, Spanish guitarist and arranger Jose Souc, studio electric guitarist and arranger Slim Pezin, bassist Christian Padovan. Only drums and brass parts were recorded in session by the invited studio musicians. The phonogram demonstrates the excellent cooperation of all participants. The title song was 16 minutes long. 30 sec. Nicolas Skorsky created an incendiary arrangement of “Quasimodo Suite” with the participation of Jimmy Goings and Skarano (aka the aforementioned Arthur Cobb).

Simultaneously with the LP, a single with this folk song was released (a cover version of THE ANIMALS (1964), GEORDIE (1974) and other performers, the authorship of which is not known for certain), which received “Gold” in many countries. The success of this release of the French was not prevented by the coincidence in time with the release of the same title track (14:35), including in France, performed by the South African disco project HOT RS, created in 1977 by producer Kevin Kruger) and singer Rene Veldsman with the participation of studio session musicians. This gorgeous “sexy” super-disco version is completely devoid of flamenco elements - the main feature of the original SANTA ESMERALDA.

Almost simultaneously, REVELACTION released their version of “House of the Rising Sun + Revelacion Suite” on the French disco label Cronos Records. This two-album disco project was essentially a studio side-offs of CERRONE with the participation of Marc Cerrone, Don Ray, Slim Pezin (VOYAGE), Moe Foster (the same one who took part in the rock projects AFFINITY (1970), FANCY (1974-1975), “The Butterfly Ball And The Grasshopper's Feast” (1974), “Wizard's Convention” (1976), etc.), Georges Rodi, Lee Rich, Ray Cooper and others. The arrangement of both the disco versions REVELACTION and SANTA ESMERALDA has a lot in common for personnel and other reasons. At the beginning of 1978, world disco labels reissued both the “giant” SANTA ESMERALDA as a whole, and the “forty-five” separately (in various shortened versions and combinations of `B-Sides').

After such a powerful disco-dynamite, the enterprising Casablanca Records quickly acquired the rights to the subsequent re-issues of this release and, as we can see, they did not fail in this business. A successful start in the form of two almost impeccable “giants” of a new type prompted the musicians to finally form a permanent line-up for live performances. Jimmy Goings was given the rights to tour as part of the concept and in January 1978 he formed his first “touring group”. And the band - now under the direction of Goings - immediately hit the big concert road. They first toured with the legendary Barry White, then joined the resumed tour of Carlos Santana. As a result, SANTA ESMERALDA is quickly headlining and is now embarking on a full-fledged world tour that includes Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Brazil, Canada and US. In addition to Jimmy Goings, the live band included guitarists Tony Baker and Mick Valentino, bassist Charlie Magarian, drummer Jimmy Sanchez, trumpeter Tom Poole and keyboardist Reggie Graham.

In the second half of 1978, a soundtrack was created at Studio De L'air, which formed the basis for the third LP-album, entitled Beauty. The disc was released under the Puma label. Conceptually, the work is a disco suite created by the same team based on horror stories about vampires. Trumpet, strings and backing vocals are recorded by Jose Souc, who has proved himself worthy both in performance and composition since his time in the French jazz orchestra GIANT (1972). Almost all of the songs are written by Skorsky in collaboration with Souk and Steven Kay. The exception was the standard “Hey Joe” by Billy Roberts, whose cover version was striving to stake out almost every self-respecting rocker: from Jimi Hendrix to DEEP PURPLE. Philippe Puig worked here as a sound engineer and Dominique Poncet recorded and mixed. The cover features the make-up face of Jimmy Goings, who is hugged by a sultry signorita - studio photo, and Anatole Paris makeup. But in a sense, “Beauty” still turned out to be a move to a lower level. The LP release was accompanied by the single “Learning the Game / Only Beauty Survives”.

On August 13, 1979, the fourth giant vinyl disc, “Another Cha-Cha”, was released (Casablanca label). The album was an original collection of songs - here Jimmy Goings made his first authoring contributions to all four tracks. This album does not feature a single hit cover for the first time. In addition to Scarano / Skorsky, who took part in writing three songs and producing the release, a new creative figure in the person of Michael Perisich was invited to the creative workshop at the initiative of Jimmy. The title track has traditionally had a complex structure, including an additional part “Cha-Cha Suite”, built on the combination of Cuban rhythmic elements “salsa” and “cha-cha-cha” with “Eurodisco”, for a total duration of almost 14 minutes. On the second side of the disc stand out the ballad “Back to the Beginning” and the final “Answer”. The arrangement was done by “Horns & Strings Arrangements”, the engineering tricks of the recording were in the hands of Dominique Poncet, nicknamed “Lucky”, assisted by three assistants and just as many sound technicians! As a result, this album, built on the whole on the Caribbean rhythm, convinced everyone of how high the bar for SANTA ESMERALDA could be raised. The title track became another world famous disco hit. Well, as you know, from goodness - they don't look for goodness, and the scrappy team under the leadership of Skorsky continued to move towards generating an incendiary sound, where Jimmy Goings confidently remained at the helm [9].

The fifth album “Don't Be Shy Tonight” (1980) clearly surpassed the previous LP qualitatively and commercially. The album's opening energetic “C'est Magnifique - Sweet Suite” is based on the syncopated rhythms of the Brazilian samba. The recording, made with bright keyboards and groovy “pipes”, is filled with optimism and immediately sets you up for a positive dance. The ballad “Stop (To A Friend)” is incomparable. The roots of “Part Of The Deal” grow from the progressive rock bed; one might even say - from a soft jazz-rock flower bed, to which such serious people as CHICAGO often turned their attention. “Fool from the Start” is dominated by the minor scale of the Cuban rumba. And the final “Esmeralda Song”, written by one Skorsky, includes oriental motives. In general, all the compositions are original (the authors are the same - Jimmy Goings, Skorsky, Scarano, Souc, Petit and Perisich) and sound quality, there are no “passable” themes and cover versions. The original copies are printed in California at the PRC Recording Company. In Italy, the album was marketed as “C'est Magnifique” (under the title track).

Jimmy Goings: “In spite of a competing release of the same title, `The House of The Rising Sun' by Don Ray, SANTA ESMERALDA featuring Jimmy Goings went on to create three more world wide released albums: `Beauty', `Another Cha- Cha' and `Ce'st Magnifique'. Again, after a fisure with Skorsky and De Scarano, Skorsky forged ahead to create two more albums: `Hush' and `The Green Taliman', featuring Jimmy Goings on Vocals and Musical and Lyrical contributions. All told, Goings was featured on six SANTA ESMERALDA albums” [2, p. 959].

In 1980, the road-roads of Skorsky and Scarano parted ways, and Goings, remaining a prominent frontman, continued his work as part of SANTA ESMERALDA. The 1981 release surprised fans. The album under the painfully familiar (especially for the “purplemans”) title “Hush” turned out to be different from all the previous works of our disco project. Yes, and the prefix `disco' here seems to be completely out of place, since on the whole the sixth ESMERALDA program disc presents a set of mid- tempo rock compositions. The title “Hush” stands out (by Joe South, but the song was promoted in DEEP PURPLE's debut album). In the “Esmeraldo” interpretation of this killer cover, the band managed to repeat their trademark original sound. Rolling's “Street Fighting Man” is complemented by his own and improvised Street Suite, while The Beatles' “No Reply” is offered through a reggae lens. All original cover arrangements have been flawlessly transcribed. The creative process of reworking other people's hits in a new sound was organized by Jose Souc. The author's song by Goings and Skorsky “Things We Cannot Change” is somewhat reminiscent of 10 CC.

The ballads “Don't Make Me Feel That Way”, “Knives”, “Walking Backwards” and “Welcome To The World” are impressive. In “What I Wanna Do with Your Love” the brass section creates a jazzrock flavor of the same CHICAGO. On this album Jimmy Goings collaborated with Jose Souc again on `Welcome to the World' and “What I Wanna Do with Your Love”. In one of the compositions, Andre Charles Pezin became the new co-author of Jimmy Goings, in whose rock biography a notable event in 1975 was his participation in a jazz-funky fusion supergroup called CCPP (Not USSR; in fact, this abbreviation is completely apolitical, since it contains only capital letters the names of the participants: Ceccarelli Chantereau Padovan Pezin). The album was available in Canada as Jimmy Goings & SANTA ESMERALDA “Don't Make Me Feel That Way” (Marguerite), and in Mexico as SANTA ESMERALDA featuring Jimmy Goings Hush - “Santa Esmeralda VI” (PolyGram).

“Green Talisman”, released by Polydor in 1982, was the final album for the project, now under its new official name, Jimmy Goings and SANTA ESMERALDA. And although this disc was not released in the USA at all, in May 1983 the disc was released by Melodiya Firm under license and sold for 3 rubles 50 kopecks in Soviet record stores called Jimmy Goings and Santa Esmeralda - “Green Talisman”. Recall that it was during this period in the USSR that there was a powerful persecution of rockers and the peak of bans on foreign rock music was noted. Despite the manifestation of some loyalty to Yuri Andropov's policy on these issues, in 1983-1984 a sharp decrease in the production of gramophone records was recorded (1.9% of the total number over a 20-year period), which confirms the tough policy of Konstantin Chernenko on this issue.

By this time, the repressions in the field of rock music were in full swing: this was the scandalous festival “Tbilisi-80”, and the police at concerts, and lists of banned groups, persecution of “writers”, the placement of rockers in psychiatric institutions, up to criminal liability... But SANTA ESMERALDA in the Soviet Union then for some reason from afar! As Jimmy Goings told the author in December 2019, they have long wanted to perform in front of the Soviet public, in particular - even to make a tour of Ukraine!!! In “Green Talisman”, the Goings and Skorki returned to the concept album genre and released an astounding work, showcasing the best they could do. The title tune `Green Talisman', written by their creative tandem with the participation of Claude Carmone, is a classic disco hit in the best traditions of SANTA ESMERALDA, not inferior to “Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood” and “House Of The Rising Sun”. The cover of “Siboney”, by the Cuban Ernesto Lecuona, has become a spectacular number in the flamenco style. Not without “lush” ballads: “Sweet Fusion” and “Eternal Light”.

There is a spirit in Forchune Teller ... “Jesus Christ Superstar” by Andrew Lloyd Webber, but with a slight oriental bite. The disturbing Children of Sanchez was written by American pianist Chuck Mangione. And “Eye of the Cat” is based on the synergetic concept of the so-called disco-rock, which at that time did not disdain to use many - for example, the same KISS.

But back to SANTA ESMERALDA, whose story seems to be coming to an end. Throughout 1982 Jimmy Goings continued to tour with the band, with some minor ongoing changes in the live version - bassist Philippe Talet should be singled out as a relatively permanent new member. However, in mid-1983, Jimmy Goings postponed his tour - this was motivated by personal circumstances: he decided to devote more time to raising his daughter Genevieve, and then his son Jesse. As a result, it was announced the closure of this project, in the arsenal of which there were 7 albums in seven full years.

About a dozen years have passed. During this time, Leroy Gomez, in addition to the already named LP “Gypsy Woman”, released a couple of solo albums - “Number One Man” (1978) and “I Got It Bad” (1979), several singles - “Tu Mi Manchi Dentro” (1980), “Watch Her Dance” (1981)... “Wonderful World” (1995), and also managed to take part in the San Remo music competition. And suddenly the demand for the music of this group suddenly renewed.

From 1994 to 1998, “Hot Productions” and some other publishers reissued all SANTA ESMERALDA albums on CD, as well as released collections of their hits. SANTA ESMERALDA enjoyed great success with pirate label publishers. So, for example, in the post-Soviet recording market at the beginning of the 2000s, there were three releases of SANTA ESMERALDA CDs from the unofficial series “Disco Favorites” in the format 2LP on 1CD - “Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood / House of the Rising Sun” (1977 / 1978), “Another Cha-Cha / Beauty” (1979/1979), “Don't Be Shy Tonight / Hush” (1980/1981), allegedly licensed by the defunct company A Fauves - Puma Production. And under the pirate trademark 2000 FruitGum Corp. (“Kankard”) released CD-R with other options for the arrangement of material.

Jimmy Goings: “After several Master licensing deals in the Eighties, SANTA ESMERALDA underwent several branding ownership situations. Somewhere between 2003 and 2004, branding ended up in eventual control of Leroy Gomez. He subsequently went on to imprint his name and image on most of the SANTA ESMERALDA titles available on the Internet” [2, p. 959].

Goings has gone on to form his own “Tribute to the Music of SANTA ESMERALDA”, “GENERATION ESMERALDA Featuring Jimmy Goings” [9].

On the eve of the millennium, Leroy Gomez decided to re-record the “classics” of SANTA ESMERALDA, adding some new songs to it. On November 6, 2000, the CD SANTA ESMERALDA Featuring Leroy Gomez - “Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood” (Ariola Express) was released, on which there were new versions of the basic songs, and not only songs from the only album recorded with Leroy Gomez were included (“You're My Everything”), but also the best numbers from the Jimmy Goings times (“House Of The Rising Sun” and “Another Cha-Cha”). In addition, this disc features several new songs written by Leroy Gomez - “Still Crazy For You”, “Hey Mambo”, “New Lover” and “Let Me Dream Tonight” (by Phil Manikiza and Simon Stirling), as well as another cover version of the rock classic “Gimme Some Lovin” from the repertoire of THE SPENCER DAVIS GROUP. Another important part of this release was the “Esmeralda Latin Suite - Medley”, in the body of which there were many interesting things: from Cuban themes and Brazilian tropics to reworkings of “Vamos A La Playa” by Carmelo La Bionda. Not without the neo-tech Euro-disc “Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood”. And the album closes with a new unusual reading “Europa” by Carlos Santana!

This time, Leroy Gomez did not hesitate to record the soundtrack - more than 20 invited musicians helped him to record the phonogram, including 4 backing vocalists, 5 bassists and keyboardists each, 3 guitarists, saxophonist and percussionist, plus technical staff! In 2002 he, introducing himself as SANTA ESMERALDA, Leroy Gomez, released an album with new material “Lay Down My Love” (Just Music). The material was written by Leroy himself together with his wife Akila Gomez (Bouchareb), a dancer with the stage name Tequila. There was a tilt towards soul and rumba. A large number of invited mainly Italian musicians took part in the work on this disc: backing vocalists - Debora Quattrini, Dora Carofiglio from the Italian disco group NOVESENTO and Giuseppe Neri, bassist Rossana Nicolosi, cellists Valentina Turatiiorazzia, violinists Simbzo Gavglio and Giorgio Molteni, trumpeter Amik Guerra, tenor saxophonist Gabriel Clemente, trombonist Leonardo Govin, keyboardists Pino Nicolosi and Ivan Bridon Napoles, percussionists Marco Fadda and Mimmo Campanale, electric guitarist Lino Nicolosi, the one- off project THE VOYAGERS (1984) and a number of other Italo-disco bands), and Andrea Cerati played the Spanish guitar. This issue was distributed by Sony Music Entertainment Italy S.p.A.

In 2003, Leroy Gomez, pushing aside Jimmy Goings, who recorded 6 original albums as the frontman, managed to gain control over the original name of the group and began to exploit the legendary brand. He quickly re-recorded versions of Jimmy Goings songs, putting his image into all shows with the name SANTA ESMERALDA. So, in 2004, The Greatest Hits appeared, where updated versions of the group's hits were recorded, including those originally performed by Jimmy Goings, as well as a number of cover versions of classic rock numbers, including those previously not included in the repertoire of the original group: “Whiter Shade Of Pale” (Gary Brooker & Keith Reid / PROCOL HARUM, Joe Cocker, etc.) and “Get Ready” (Smokey Robinson / THE TEMPTATIONS, RARE EARH). This time the studio team consisted of about 20 people, many of whom had been working with Leroy Gomez on a more or less permanent basis for several years. But several new “session members” were also involved - saxophonist Mario Ortiz and bassist Ranses Colon, as well as producer, keyboardist and arranger of Cuban origin Ish Ledesma. In the same year, the CD-single “Bed Of Love” was released [11].

In 2005, in the wake of interest in the “Disco Era” SANTA ESMERALDA recorded several new songs. However, this was not enough to release a full-length studio album. And then the German label “Pazzazz” released two CDs “Gloria” and “Hasta Luego”, the tracklists of which consisted of digital club adaptations of the hits of the original group, several new products and cover versions of rock classics. In fact, already completely unrelated to the original producers and musicians, except for Leroy Gomez, the new releases have a more synthesized sound than the previous “hot” recordings. Then, under the SANTA ESMERALDA brand, he performed with a concert program for some time, but soon agreed not to violate the copyright (Trademark A Band Name) and changed the name of his personal project to THE NEW SANTA ESMERALDA (with Leroy Gomez).

In 2010, under the name of Leroy Leroy Gomeza, another CD-R single “Everybody In Love” in the style of “house” (label “Stop And Go”) appeared in Italy. In 2018, Leroy Gomez, with the participation of Aax Donnell & THE RELIGHT ORCHESTRA, created the club Euro-house rework “Gloria”, making it available in 2xFile, MP3, Single formats.

But what about the Jimmy Goings at this time? Since the early 2000s, Jimmy Goings & SANTA ESMERALDA has been operating permanently. But studio recordings did not come out under such a brand. Since 2012, the current incarnation of the band featuring Jimmy Goings is THE GENERATION ESMERALDA featuring Jimmy Goings as a tribute to the music they recorded in the best years and to create new music. This reincarnation took place at the initiative of the original SANTA ESMERALDA trumpeter Tom Poole and Brazilian promoter Sergio Lopes. Thanks to this project, the exclusive spirit of the magic music of SANTA ESMERALDA has returned to the big stage. However, Tom Poole, having worked together with old friends for several years, could no longer participate in the activities of the reconstituted team for health reasons, which included two more original members of the “golden period touring group” guitarists Tony Baker (ex-THE DeFRANCO FAMILY, THE DRIFTERS ) and Mick Valentino (ex-Eddie Harris, Roger Smith, Jerry Goodman), as well as 7 new top performers. The group did not engage in studio work, preferring concert, club and corporate performances lasting from 75 to 120 minutes.

On October 20, 2014 in Paris, at the 63rd year, the creator and generator of ideas of SANTA ESMERALDA, Nicholas Skorsky (R.I.P.), died.

Jimmy Goings himself founded GFI Entertainment, LLC, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and currently continues to work as a music producer, looking for young talent and coordinating entertainment events. Led by Jimmy Goings, GENERATION ESMERALDA re-recorded 20 numbers of the original SANTA ESMERALDA in their concept, and they also created several new songs.

In 2019, the festive shows “Generation Esmeralda 40th Anniversary Party at The Seahorse” took place with Mikel Paul as a “special guest” - one of the original members of the SANTA ESMERALDA concert line-up, who performed “The Way A Woman's Body Goes”. And the real frontman Jimmy Goings presented a new song with the symbolic title “When I Was Young” (2018) [8].

The new album “Move On Baby” (2022) of SANTA ESMERALDA starring Leroy Gomez in the works...

santa esmeralda musical show business

Conclusions and suggestions

The overall picture of “Disco Music” is quite variegated and includes more than 70 subdirections. American disco is characterized by a sound close to funk and soul, where the rhythmic pattern is built around the same and frequent beat of drums with a dominant role of keyboards and vocals, and Eurodisco was closely intertwined with the traditional stage and general trends of pop music... In the entertainment sector of the history of popular music, the SANTA ESMERALDA project takes pride of place. The Federation of European Press has twice awarded SANTA ESMERALDA the status of the best show, the project has also received the “Mask Of Success” award, and the group has become a Billboard magazine laureate 6 times. SANTA ESMERALDA managed not only to combine Rock, Disco and Flamenco - they managed to organically stretch the threads between the English-American, Francophone and Latin worlds of popular music, adding a handful of free gypsy spirit to this wonderful festive cocktail... GENERATION ESMERALDA Lives...

Now Jimmy Goings donates to sick children in “St. Jude Children's Research Hospital” and is actively involved in other charitable humanitarian projects.

References

1. Ñèíåîêèé Î.Â. Äóàëèçì äèñêî â êóëüòóðíî-êîììóíèêàòèâíîé ðåòðîñïåêòèâå. ßðîñëàâñêèé ïåäàãîãè÷åñêèé âåñòíèê. 2015. ¹ 4. Ñ. 336-341.

2. Ñèíåîêèé Î.Â. Êîñìîôîíèÿ 2112. Íîâåéøàÿ êíèãà î òàéíàõ âèíèëîâîé ïëàíåòû ñ ó÷àñòèåì ëåãåíäàðíûõ ðîê-ìóçûêàíòîâ / ïðåäèñë. È.Î. ×åðåçîâ. Publisher: Rock-Ex-Press, 2021. 980 ñ.

3. Ñèíºîêèé Î.Â. Äèñêî-êîìóí³êàö³ÿ ÿê îñîáëèâå ìàñîâèäíå ÿâèùå. Ïñèõîëîã³ÿ ³ ñóñï³ëüñòâî. 2013. ¹ 3. Ñ. 82-92.

4. Ñèíåîêèé Î.Â. Îò ñîöèàëèñòè÷åñêîé ìîäåëè äèñêîòåêè ê òåîðèè äèñêî-êîììóíèêàöèè. Ïðàâî è æèçíü. 2013. ¹ 175 (1). Ñ. 97-116.

5. Ñèíåîêèé Î.Â. Ôåíîìåí äèñêî-êîììóíèêàöèè: ñîöèàëüíî-ýêîíîìè÷åñêàÿ ïðèðîäà, ïñèõîëîãè÷åñêèé ìåõàíèçì, ïîëèòèêî-ãåîãðàôè÷åñêàÿ ñòðóêòóðà, èíôîðìàöèîííî-ïðàâîâûå òðåíäû. Òåîðåòè÷åñêàÿ è ïðèêëàäíàÿ ýêîíîìèêà. 2012. ¹ 1. Ñ. 154-293.

6. Synieokyj O.V. PR and Management in the Global Disco History Through Communication & Legal Prism. ³ñíèê Çàïîð³çüêîãî íàö³îíàëüíîãî óí³âåðñèòåòó. Ñåð³ÿ «Þðèäè÷í³ íàóêè». 2015. ¹ 4. Ñ. 31-43.

7. Synieokyj O. V. From Disco History Personalities (Musicological and Communications Retrospective Analysis). Àðêàä³ÿ. 2016. ¹ 1 (46). Ñ. 14-18.

8. Generation Esmeralda.

9. Jimmy Goings.

10. Santa Esmeralda.

11. Santa Esmeralda starring Leroy Gomez.

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