Horst Wende (5 November 1919 – 23 January 1996) was a German bandleader, arranger and composer. He made easy-listening records under his own name as well as under the name Roberto Delgado. He was part of the wave of German-based easy-listening artists who were popular in the 1960s and 1970s, along with Bert Kaempfert and James Last.
Born in Zeitz, Saxony, he showed musical proficiency at an early age. He played in his grandfather’s band in a restaurant when he was six, and by his teens he was accomplished at playing piano, accordion, xylophone and marimba. He studied music at the Leipzig Conservatory.
He served in the German Army during World War II, but was captured by the British. During his captivity in a Danish prisoner-of-war camp, he met a guitarist named Ladi Geisler, with whom he soon formed a small combo. After the war, he led various combos (which usually included Geisler) in the Salambo Night Club from René Durand & The Tarantella Night Club near the famous Reeperbahn. Horst also played with British Service musicians and big bands such as Edmundo Ros. Settling in Hamburg, he became part of the burgeoning music scene in the port city. Signed to the Polydor label in the 1950s, as a composer, producer and musician he made accordion and dance band music under his own name.
He also started with Middle & South America music recordings under the alias of Roberto Delgado, and with piano albums as Mister Pepper. The Delgado albums became popular in Europe, and then found an audience in the UK, Japan and North America and Australia as Polydor opened up several international subsidiaries. It is interesting to note that Wende recorded his albums using the same group of studio musicians who recorded for Kaempfert and Last; in fact, guitarist Ladi Geisler also provided the distinct knack-bass guitar to the Kaempfert sound.
The Delgado recordings were initially Latin-oriented, but they eventually covered a number of different musical genres including African, Italian, Jewish, Oriental, Russian, Greek and Jamaican music as well as Broadway musicals and current pop hits. It could be argued that Wende/Delgado helped to pioneer world music. He managed to break into the German singles market with his version of “Mexico” in 1962. He also arranged music for other German artists such as German folk/pop singer Knut Kiesewetter. Horst made several albums with great international singers including Conny Froboess, Wencke Myhre, Katja Ebstein, Daliah Lavi and Freddy Quinn.
Like most of his pop orchestral contemporaries, Wende’s popularity had faded by the 1980s, and he gradually retired from playing music professionally. In recent years, his music has become popular again, and some of his recordings have been reissued on CD. His work is still much loved and remembered by the many who heard his work. His song “Skokiaan”, from the 1958 album Africana, is used at the end of Richard Linklater’s film Slacker (1990).
Recordings by Roberto Delgado you can hear at Instrumentals Forever:
| Le Freak |
| A Media Luz – Cuando Calienta El Sol |
| A Night In Puerto Rico |
| Adios |
| Adios Mariquita Linda – Amapola – Un Poco Rio |
| Adios Mi Chaparrita |
| Albatross |
| Aloha Oe |
| Amapola |
| Amor Amor Amor |
| Andalucia |
| Arawak |
| Arrivederci Roma |
| Ave Maria No Morro – Maria Elena |
| Bali Ha’i |
| Beautiful Girl From Arcadia |
| Bella Italia – Valencia – Gigi L’Amoroso |
| Besame Mucho |
| Beyond The Reef |
| Black Magic Woman |
| Black River |
| Blue Hawaii |
| Borriquito |
| Brasilia |
| Canta Libre |
| Caramba En La Playa |
| Carioca |
| Carolina-Caro |
| Cayenne Pepper |
| Cielito Lindo |
| Coconut Woman |
| Corcovado |
| Corcovado – Pepito – El Rancho Grande – La Felicidad |
| Creole Dance |
| Cuando Sali De Cuba |
| Cuba Man |
| Cu-Cu-Ru-Cu-Cu Paloma |
| Die Bouzouki klingt durch die Sommernacht |
| Do You Voodoo |
| Dont Cry Fo Me Argentina |
| Dos Palomitas |
| El Colas |
| El Condor Pasa |
| El Gato Montez – España |
| El Jarabe Tapatiom |
| Eviva El Amor – Brasil – Volare Cantare |
| Eviva España – Dolores – A Banda |
| Fiesta Di Beurba |
| Fiesta Mexicana |
| Flower Of Hawaii |
| Funiculi Funicula |
| Goodbye My Love Goodbye |
| Granada |
| Guadelupe Limbo |
| Guantanamera |
| Hawaii Five-O |
| Hawaiian Blue Beat Baby |
| Hawaiian Tattoo |
| Hawaiian War Chant |
| Hawaiian Wedding Song |
| Honolulu Ragtime Doll |
| I Watch The White Clouds |
| Ich hab’ die Liebe geseh’n |
| In A Little Spanish Town |
| Island In The Sun |
| Jamaica Boy |
| Jamaica Farewell |
| January February – Manaña – Ramaya |
| Jump In The Line |
| La Bamba |
| La Bamba – Amor Amor Amor – Tequila |
| La Felicidad |
| Latin Romance |
| Lindia |
| Liquidator |
| Macarenas |
| Mama Inez – Carioca – El Colas |
| Mama Look -A-Booboo |
| Maori Farewell Song |
| Maria Me Ta Kitrina |
| Marinella |
| Matilda |
| Memories Are Made This |
| Mexico |
| Miami Beach Rumba |
| Moliendo Café |
| Montego Bay Parade |
| Moonlight Girl |
| Mucho Mucho (Te Quiero dijiste) |
| Mucho Mucho Mucho |
| My Friend The Wind |
| My Haiti Cherie |
| My Tane |
| Navidad Negra |
| Negra Maria Esther – Carnavalito – Rum And Coca Cola – Tabasco |
| Non Dimenticar |
| O Cangaceiro |
| Pagan Love Song |
| Paloma Blanca |
| Pata Pata |
| Perfidia |
| Perfidia – La Ragazza |
| Plenty Plenty Of Money |
| Polynesian Waltz |
| Red Sails In The Sunset |
| Rhodos Melody |
| Rum And Coca Cola |
| Rumba Tamba |
| Sailing Along Blue Hawaii |
| Schönes Madchen aus Arcadia |
| Siboney |
| Sirtaki In Athen |
| Sleepy Lagoon |
| Song Of The Island |
| Spanish Step |
| Summer Samba – El Condor Pasa |
| Sun Of Hawaii |
| Sweet Leilani |
| Taboo |
| Tahiti Moon |
| Taka Taka – Rumba Tambah – Borriquito |
| Tango d’amor – The Whistling Scout – El Bimbo |
| The Banana Boat Song |
| The Bouzouki Sounded Through The Summer Night |
| The Bouzouki The Night And The Wine |
| The Mosquito |
| The Peanut Vendor |
| The Star of Mykonos |
| Tico Tico – Tulpen aus Amsterdam |
| Tres Palabras |
| Tschiou Tschiou |
| Un Canto a Galicia |
| Un Fiume Amarokaymos |
| Valencia |
| Vaya con Dios |
| Vaya Con Dios – Banana Boat – Soul Calypso |
| Véronique de Martinique |
| Weisse Rosen aus Athen – Ein Schiff wird kommen – Akropolis adieu |
| Who’s Got the Paper |
| Wini-Wini Wana-Wana |