Enrique Abal Salvo
was 20 years old when, in 1938, in Montevideo, Uruguay, he started to do recordings for
private individuals. Those first 78 r.p.m. records were already produced under the trade
name Son d'Or ( which in French means
sound of gold ). In the
following decades, his company recorded tens of thousands of political speeches, publicity
and, of course, music.
In 1941, Son d'Or started
series production of records. This was a genuine backyard industry, established at home by
Enrique Abal Salvo. Thus the oldest recording industry of Uruguay was
born. And sixty years later, it is still going strong.
Large scale commercial production was started
in 1944. In 1954 Son d'Or made the first 45 rpm records in South America.
The first stereo recording came in 1960. Later on, came cassette recording and compact
discs.
In 1962, Enrique Abal Oliú,
aka Quique, entered his father's firm and promoted many musicians. He catalogued Uruguayan
artists. Son d'Or became SONDOR, and incorporated a
number of other Uruguayan recording trade names such as Clave, De
la Planta, Macondo and APSA. Nowadays SONDOR
has the largest catalog of Uruguayan music, including, among others, the following
artists: Julio Sosa, Alfredo Zitarrosa, Ruben Rada, José Carbajal aka " El
Sabalero ", Santiago Chalar, Pepe Guerra, Donato Racciatti, Miguel Villasboas, Romeo
Gavioli, Karibe con K and Eduardo Mateo.
SONDOR has continued in the front
line of recording companies, with up to date equipment. An air conditioned recording 
studio
can register orchestras of up to 70 musicians. The main studio has an automated 32 channel
Soundcraft console. It is connected to a 32 channel digital ADAT
recording system, in turn synchronized with an analogic 24 track Ampex MM1200
recorder. Its microphones are Neumann U47, U67 and U87. The studios also
cherish a couple of historic Steinway pianos. Final production can be
optimized in a mastering cabinet. Old recordings can be restored with amazing results
through most modern German software. SONDOR has the best Uruguayan technicians, all of
them with vast experience.
Mr. Enrique Abal Salvo's grandsons have already
entered this family firm started sixty years ago. Ing. Rafael Abal Oliú,
44, is now Managing Director.
In 1997-1998, the Golden Record was
obtained by Karibe con K, Los Fatales, Sonora
Cumanacao and Mundo Tropical Volume 4.
Sixty percent of the sales of Uruguayan artists
are SONDOR productions and in the tropical music field this market share
goes up to ninety percent.
SONDOR's WEB page in
Internet offers the catalog to the whole word, having already received orders and
information requests from many foreign countries. At present SONDOR is
contacted daily from Australia, USA, Argentina, Spain, France and Canada.
SONDOR ON THE DAY OF PATRIMONY
MP3
" The Speech of the President of Uruguay Dr. Jorge Batlle
about Sondor " ( Year 2000 )
