Pieces of the history of the french brand Aerophone

I confess that I wasn’t really interested by the french record industry in my early years of collecting, firstly because of the music that I wasn’t too much into at that time, but also because resources are pretty scarce compared to what has been done in the US and UK and made discoveries and researches very complicated for a newbie. So I let many things pass by in the past, discovering tardily the richness of the french musical heritage.
I’ve recently discovered a handful of records I’ve never heard about before: Aérophone. Even if the music wouldn’t be too much of my taste, considering the obvious period of production, I bought them anyway. Intrigued by these Pathé-like though lateral-cut records, I started digging…

Like many early record label stories, it all started with a phonograph. The company G. Ballu & Cie, based in Paris, 1 rue Andrieux, trademarked the name Aérophone and the “GB” logo in 1909 for the production of talking machines, and everything related (records, cylinders, spare parts, etc). “G” is for Guillaume. Guillaume Ballu was an industrial who started a political career in the early 20’s.

Like many other talking machine producers, the company also produced records to be sold with its own machines (or with any other). The records were double-sided, had no printed label but incised informations, were 10.6″/ 27cm in size and to be played at 80 rpm. That made them look pretty much like Pathés. But unlike Pathés, they were lateral-cut, needles records. Though, vertical-cuts were also produced by the company as the format was very common at that time, but probably in minor quantities considering their scarcity today.

There is no catalog number but a matrix number can be found in the runout – and for what I have seen on some records I haven’t bought, the matrix number appears sometimes in the label area when the length of the track does not allow much runout.
The logo of the company, “GB”, appeared under the Aérophone name.
They were sold at low price, and advertised as being of the best possible quality in sound, obviously. I have to admit that the company wasn’t cheating on the quality of its products: the records being very strong with a very clear, wide sound for the period.
Also, the company seems to have produced all its recordings, instead of leasing masters from other companies. The stated ambition was clearly to be a major player in French production.
According to early78s.uk, the records were exported to England from 1911 and sold from premises at 50 High Holborn, London, but for an uncertain period of time.
The company will also have its own record store in Paris, 30 rue du faubourg Poissonière, in 1912 and 1913.

The company had its own orchestra, wich was not a pseudonym to hide musicians or sides leased from other companies, but a real band that performed live to promote the brand:

The following sides have been recorded before 1913.

Side 563 is Les Cloches de Corneville, taken from the light opéra/comical opéra of the same name, composed by Robert Planquette, created at the Théatre des Follies Dramatiques, Paris, in 1877. It was a huge success and ran for more than 500 performances.

There are many recordings under this title, by different orchestras, on different record labels until the very early 30’s. They most probably are instrumental medleys of different songs of the opéra, just like this one sounds.

Side 710 is a polka. The polka is a native dance from Bohemia but also specific to the Slavic regions and Central Europe. A two time dance, at rather fast tempo, with well articulated rhythms. Derived from several Anglo-Saxon dances, it spread throughout Europe in the middle of the 19th century, giving rise to a real “polkamania”. It will slowly fall into disuse during the 20th century.

Sides 808 & 809 are a quadrille. It refers to a dance ball in vogue between the early 19th century and the First World War, where couples of dancers change partners. The quadrille des lanciers (“Quadrille of spearmen”), appeared in France in 1856 . It consists of five figures: tiroirs, lignes, saluts, moulinets, lanciers (“drawers, lines, salutes, reels, spearmen”) and was danced regularly until the Second World War.

The other figures were recorded and released without any doubt, I wonder what is on the flip side of the 5th figure then…

At some point, the company switched to printed labels. The design (below) is pretty poor and the GB logo has disappeared. I assume this was a short lived design, it could have been introduced in 1912 or early 1913.
Side 1140 is another polka, once again by La Garde Républicaine, with an impressive piston solo.

The company also released traditional Algerian music on a dedicated series around that time, also with a printed picture label, way more sophisticated than the one above. These labels still had the GB logo, hence the assumption of the release date.

In the comments below, fellow portugese collector João Pedro pointed out that Aerophone did not released only french music and Algerian music, but also many sides of foreign music: Portugal, Spain, Brazil and probably from other countries as well.

This information revealed a new layer of mystery: the side shown above is matrix number 100 (the flip side being matrix #101). The Aerophone catalog started with 3 digits matrix numbers, is that then the very first Aerophone record (unlikely), or is that a dedicated series for foreign music ? In that case, at wich number started the general series ?

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In 1913, thanks to a probable success, the G. Ballu company became the Société Française Aérophone, still based in Paris, but now at the adress of the record shop – that certainly closed to become the headquarter of the new company. The “GB” logo disappeared in profit of a very fine and sophisticated logo, showing an early monoplane carrying a phonograph with a horn.

Despite the image on the above advertisment, the records had definitively printed labels, various versions with different colors were used.
Exemples of post-1913 Aérophone labels, from the Alain Etienne collection, the last one on bottom right being a vertical-cut record:

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Records kept their large size and high speed. The matrix numbers were appearing on the labels now, but still no catalog number per record. They got dressed up in new sleeves too:

Side 1283 is from another light opéra called Les Noces de Jeannette (“Jeannette’s wedding”), a comic opera in one act of Victor Massé. It was created in Paris in the Salle Favart of the Opéra-Comique in 1853. It will be performed more than 1400 times on the stage of the Salle Favart until 1953.
This side has been recorded sometimes after 1913, and considering the matrix number, probably in the very late 10’s or very early 20’s.

Side 1335 is a mazurka (a stylized Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo that has a heavy accent on the second beat.) played by Michel Péguri, French accordionist, luthier and composer. With his brothers Charles and Louis, among others, he is part of the first generation of accordionists to promote the accordion as a musical instrument in its own right.

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Then, Aérophone entered its third incarnation in the early 20’s…
All following images, except when noted, come from the Alain Etienne collection, and they really tell a story.

This sleeve is a variation of the post-1913 sleeve, with the same text, but with a different company name: Soléa.
Soléa was a parisian records & phonograph store, 33 rue des Marais, established in 1902. I can’t tell exactly when Soléa took over the Aérophone company, but there are some clues, though: Guillaume Ballu went into politics in the early 20’s, becoming mayor of his birth town, Gournay-sur-Marne, in 1924. He must have sold the brand to Soléa to be free for its political career before that date.
Also, on the parisian professional directory of 1922, the name associated with the given Soléa adress on the advertising below, is Aérophone.

The name “Soléa” was trademarked for “the production of records, phonographs and all accessories” only in décember 1930. Though, Soléa had started producing Aérophone records way before that date without any doubt. As the name of the comany does not appear on the records’ labels, it is impossible to tell if the two exemple above have recorded and released by the Ballu company or Soléa.
The following labels and sleeve show a new design, very Art Déco, typical of the second half of the 20’s.
The black-and-gold one shows the term “electro”, meaning these sides have been eletrically recorded, thus were from the very late 20’s or even beyond.
The red one is a vertical-cut record. The production of vertical-cut records stoped in the very early 30’s, and Pathé was the last company to press such discs. The word “electro” is missing, so that should be acoustic recordings from before 1926.

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And then there is the following sleeve, that looks very “30’s” to me, probably the last design.

What tickles me is the absence of any reference to Soléa or any other company on this sleeve. Also, I can’t tell so far any other label design was used at that time.

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The story ends in a quite blurish way. I haven’t been able to date or find any informations on how and when Aérophone disapeared, wich is pretty frustrating. It should have happened before the mid 30’s I presume.
The Aérophone discs are not very common today. Some show up, mostly in batch, here and there once in a while. The “GB” period seems to be the more commonly found nowadays. If they appear more or less regularly, you might never come across the same reference twice, though.
Aérophone lived through three decades nonetheless, in the hands of indépendant producers, hence the lack of official, reliable or sourced documents and ressources today. Not all informations are lost though, I guess, they are just not exploited yet. Someday I hope, a complete story will show up. Until then, I hope I’ve raised some interest.

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Thanks to Alain Etienne, who let me use his scans – all other images, except when noted are from the author’s collection; and to Thomas Henry for sharing some clues.