The most heard unknown song in the world (Chapolin Polka mystery)

[Bronic]

Hello, friends of LMT.

This following sample is assembled from fragments. Only 30 seconds of this track are currently known:

Context:

This tune first appeared circa 1988/1989 as a promo on SBT network, but since 1993 this tune is associated with the opening of the Brazilian dub of comedy series "El Chapulín Colorado" from Mexican comedian Chespirito.

Starting in 1984 Chespirito programs were dubbed in portuguese but also the original BGMs were replaced with music from multiple production libraries of the time, mostly Bruton (Kids and Cartoons) and KPM.

Since the first days of Internet fans of the show are working collectively to identify most of the BGMs. The linked tune is still the biggest unsolved case.

What is known about the track?

It appeared first on Brazilian TV associated with Chespirito shows as promos in 1989 and later opening of Chapolin in 1993 and was created by the SBT network.

The track never appears in the original audio source of the Chespirito series.

It's a polka style tune but nobody can match the melody of known polkas such as "Clarinet Polka". So it may be an original composition.

The use of a crude drum machine and moog may date this track as being from late 60s - late 70s

The programs were dubbed with the called "classic dub" from 1984 to 1993 and used random international library music and soundtrack records (no official licensing was made).

In 2022 it was identified a single instance of usage outside the Chespirito promos and a couple of extra seconds of the track were unveiled but fans were not able to gain any new information.

Also in 2022 a SBT network employee displayed on Instagram the track being played on SBT sound equipment. Apparently they lost the name of the track and also just have 30 seconds of it.

Conclusion

By identifying this track you may break Brazilian internet and trend on Twitter!

[Bronic]

Some recent developments on the search for this track.

Early august a Brazilian comedian passed away at 84. The network from which he had a comedy show in the 80's, SBT, is the same that commissioned the dubs of Chapolin.

As homage they posted on Youtube one of his 1987-88 episodes in full.

By some dumb luck one of the segments features the mysterious track:

The segment has some extra seconds not heard before by the Chespirito fan community, two clarinet phrases before it loops again.

This set the community on fire because the network must make a report to ECAD, a brazilian music rights society, on which musical cues and works were used during the month.

Fans found ways to obtain this document and were waiting since the end of August for the report.

Today the document was released, the exhibition was listed and...



Disappointment. Two entries, one song by John Williams. The did not list the track.

---

There are rumors that this track is originally 60 seconds long. I recently found about the Tanner label which has a good chunk of short cues. If anyone has access to this library I hope you can help.


 

[stackjackson]

There are rumors that this track is originally 60 seconds long. I recently found about the Tanner label which has a good chunk of short cues. If anyone has access to this library I hope you can help.

A fascinating hunt here, Bronic. Amazing how elusive this song has been for so long. The output of all the various William B. Tanner labels is massive. Predominantly jingles and advertising tags, but some really groovy stuff too. Quite a bit has been shared on LMT over the years, but this "polka" tune doesn't really sound very Tanner-ish to my ears. Wish I could help more.

[Riddle Snowcraft]

This song is the sole reason I got into the library music rabbit hole 15 years ago.

Considering all major historical events that transpired in the world ever since, I kinda fear I will be long gone when it is found.

[BenKirb]

This is similar to what I've been looking for for the past few months. It has been 9 (or 8) years since the Chameleon Music Production Library was used by anybody (I'm talking about KENW-TV in Portales). And I'm trying to find the rest of the library with a couple of other people.

This music library is very obscure.

[tiky00001]

This is similar to what I've been looking for for the past few months. It has been 9 (or 8) years since the Chameleon Music Production Library was used by anybody (I'm talking about KENW-TV in Portales). And I'm trying to find the rest of the library with a couple of other people.

This music library is very obscure.

Do you know this piano song that also played in the opening of this series?   

[Bronic]

Another recent development on the search and identification of the track.

An employee of the SBT network with social media presence, possibly fed up with the requests to ID the mysterious track, made an Instagram post showcasing his access to the mysterious track on SBT's equipment and the 30 seconds available to him.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CkHHVoLDMuS/

The name on the digital display "CHAPOLIN CHAMAD" is a generic description of the track's usage: being used in syndication commercials of the show.

Not only the track is internally mislabeled but only exists as an edit. He argues at the end of the video that older co-workers in the sound department have no knowledge of the origin or name of the track.

The info on this track is truly lost to time despite being a famous theme know by millions of people across generations in Brazil.

---

The thread on the community forum is very active and has been doing some good new guesses about this track based purely on observation:

The track may have not come from a commercial library album but extracted from another unknown source such as a comedy movie or series. The fact that this snippet only exists in mono may be an indicator of this. Also the short edit and the crude edit of the few extra seconds rediscovered in 2022 may be concealing an spoken or singing part.

The instrument of the first part may be a heavily filtered and fx processed clarinet itself and not a synthesizer. That makes sense as much of the simpler arrangements of library music are work of a single composer that writes primarily for a single instrument.

So if you have knowledge of library records of comedy movies, funny/circus music and clarinetists please let me know!

[Greta]

To my ears, this is a folk European song, originally from some area of the Austrian or Bavarian Alps.
Consequently, if library, to be searched in some German or Austrian label, they're plenty of this kind of music.


Just a guess...

[MusicMuzak]

I'd be looking at tracks by Jean-Jacques Perrey.
Bolaños or Televisa never told or credited Perrey for the use of his music.
He did the closing theme for another show related.
Albums like Moog Indigo Available on youtube.
And Vinyl libraries like Vanguard and Montparnasse where he did most music.
https://lemonwire.com/2017/03/17/jean-jacques-perrey-he-helped-shape-the-latin-american-imagination-and-didnt-even-know-it/

[Bronic]

Thanks for giving your thoughts, MusicMuzak!

But it's fair more convoluted than that:

The track in question was never part of the original series neither the Brazilian dub itself. The SBT network used this unknown track for the opening and promos for Bolaños shows and the Chapulin's opening since 1993. In the 1980s and early 90s SBT used music from various external sources for their programming which includes commercial recordings.

The instrumentation used in the track is also a riddle for the fans. At first the intro sounds like a polymoog synth, but fans at the forum are arguing that if you listen carefully it may be a clarinet under heavy processing like a wah-wah pedal and even sped up in recording. I quite agree with this theory and I believe it to be the work of a single clarinetist, but this type of experimental processing is very unlike the straightforward music arrangements of library music.

The 9-year old thread on the fan forum is reaching nearly 200 pages, and there is a lot of buzz on social media but NOTHING was found about the origins of the track to this day. Unlike other mysterious tracks of the Internet it is still is an instantly recognizable tune that was broadcasted daily on the second biggest Brazilian network for almost 30 years for millions of people.

[lbjames]

are you folks really sure this is library music?

perhaps it's a piece of music created by the composers that worked for the TV station....

[Bronic]

As stated before, the SBT network used various music sources for its bumpers, IDs and promos, mostly of non-brazilian origin including library music. They had a single in-house musician that denied the authorship of this tune and it indeed does not match his terrible production style.

Believe me, a lot of ground was already covered by the community through contacting SBT people and researching the other tunes related to the series that have been mostly successfully identified.

The community is also looking for secondary unknown piano track that can be listened here. It was used at the end of multiple episodes from the early 1984 dubs. This audio clip was handed by someone at Discord that also could not trace its origin and obtained it with the name "Piano Filler #3". This is the forum post about it.

[MusicMuzak]

Thanks for giving your thoughts, MusicMuzak!

But it's fair more convoluted than that:

The track in question was never part of the original series neither the Brazilian dub itself. The SBT network used this unknown track for the opening and promos for Bolaños shows and the Chapulin's opening since 1993. In the 1980s and early 90s SBT used music from various external sources for their programming which includes commercial recordings.

The instrumentation used in the track is also a riddle for the fans. At first the intro sounds like a polymoog synth, but fans at the forum are arguing that if you listen carefully it may be a clarinet under heavy processing like a wah-wah pedal and even sped up in recording. I quite agree with this theory and I believe it to be the work of a single clarinetist, but this type of experimental processing is very unlike the straightforward music arrangements of library music.

The 9-year old thread on the fan forum is reaching nearly 200 pages, and there is a lot of buzz on social media but NOTHING was found about the origins of the track to this day. Unlike other mysterious tracks of the Internet it is still is an instantly recognizable tune that was broadcasted daily on the second biggest Brazilian network for almost 30 years for millions of people.

Maybe it's not convoluted at all. Try and get the album labels mentioned and hunt for it that way. You'd be surprised what you may find by simply starting with albums.

[Bronic]

Maybe it's not convoluted at all. Try and get the album labels mentioned and hunt for it that way. You'd be surprised what you may find by simply starting with albums.

People before me worked hard identifying the majority of the BGM tracks related to this series. See how many were uncovered in a quite lengthy period of ten years. JJP's authorship of this track was ruled out several years ago.

So I'm not exactly the casual poster with a vague curiosity about this track. I listened myself thousands of library tracks this year, let alone a whole passionate community for a decade. That's a LOT of research.

[Retromatic]

I doubt I can be of much help, but could you provide a list of all the libraries that were used on the series? What was the earliest year of its use? Provide as many concise bullet points about the tune and I'll keep an ear out for it.