Sobedi

Société belge du Disque: Belgian record company and manufacturer, owned by Fernand Janssens and located in Brussels (main office and recording studio) and Ghent (pressing, plating and printing plant). In 1935 Sobedi took over the pressing and printing plant at the Waalse Krook in Ghent which had formerly belonged to Chantal (until its bankruptcy in 1932 and subsequently Edison Bell. In 1969 Sobedi was taken over by S.A. Fonior N.V. and, together with S.A. Fabeldis and Discopress, incorporated in a new structure called Sobelpress S.A. E.W. Pelgrims de Bigard became the new president, Georges Martens stayed on as executive manager. The last-known reference to the pressing and printing plant as a separate entity is from 1973. The recording studio at the Boulevard Lemonnier was founded in 1945. It was equipped with a Universal Microphone Company cutting lathe, the technician was Charles Monsieur. The studio remained into operation until at least 1974, with Pierre Neirinckx as chief engineer. Sobedi's house label for own recordings was Olympia (hence why the studio was also known as the Olympia studio, Brussel). A&R for the label was handled by Frans Verbeeck. Apart from its own label, Sobedi also pressed for a wide variety of other record companies, including Artone, CBS, Discobel (2), S.A. Gramophone N.V., Luna Records (11), Polydor, Palette, Riva Records (2) and Ronnex Records. It also owned a publishing arm called Fonogram and a distribution arm called Cobedi S.A. (Consortium belge du Disque). After World War II Janssens also set up an office in Léopoldville (Belgian Congo). Sobedi technicians toured the Congo in order to record local musicians for releases on Olympia's African Serie and on the Kongo Bina and Lomeka labels. Janssens later set up a deal with Loningisa providing them with recording equipment and pressing their releases in Belgium. The Léopoldville office was closed shortly before Congolese independence in 1960. Sobedi was represented in Canada by London Records Of Canada Ltd. and in France by Pathé Marconi.