Wrasse Records is a British record label based in Ashtead, Surrey. [1] It was started in 1998 by Ian and Jo Ashbridge. Both had been involved in the music industry prior to them starting up their own company. Its offices are based in the UK, but it distributes its CDs all around the world. In 2005, it licensed most of Universal Music's world music releases for distribution in the United States and the UK. [2]
Wrasse Records specializes in world music, with artists such as Fela Kuti, Rachid Taha, Ismael Lo, Souad Massi, Angélique Kidjo, K'naan and Pink Martini.
Wrasse recording artist Seu Jorge appeared in the film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (released November 2004), performing songs onscreen and on the official soundtrack album (released by a different label). This drew attention to Jorge and sparked sales of his coincident (September 2004) album Cru , helping to draw attention to the Wrasse label. [3]
Humphead Records is an associated label specializing in country music.
The music of Nigeria includes many kinds of folk and popular music, styles of folk music are related to the multitudes of ethnic groups in the country, each with their own techniques, instruments, and songs. Little is known about the country's music history prior to European contact, although bronze carvings dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries have been found depicting musicians and their instruments. The country's most internationally renowned genres are Indigenous, Apala, Ogene, Fuji, Jùjú, Afrobeat, Afrobeats, Igbo Highlife, Afro-juju, Waka, Igbo rap, Yo-pop, Gospel. The largest ethnic groups are the Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba. Traditional music from Nigeria and throughout Africa is almost always functional; in other words, it is performed to mark a ritual such as the wedding or funeral and not to achieve artistic goals. Although some Nigerians, especially children and the elderly, play instruments for their own amusement, solo performance is otherwise rare. Music is closely linked to agriculture, and there are restrictions on, for example, which instruments can be played during different parts of the planting season.
Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti, also known as Abami Eda, was a Nigerian musician, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. He is regarded as the pioneer of Afrobeat, a Nigerian music genre that combines West African music with American funk and jazz. At the height of his popularity, he was referred to as one of Africa's most "challenging and charismatic music performers". AllMusic described him as a musical and sociopolitical voice of international significance.
WOMAD is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance.
Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo, known as Angélique Kidjo, is a five-time Grammy Award winning Beninese singer-songwriter, actress, and activist who is noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. Kidjo was born into a family of performing artists. Her father was a musician, and her mother worked as a choreographer and theatre director.
Rachid Taha was an Algerian singer and activist based in France described as "sonically adventurous". His music was influenced by many different styles including rock, electronic, punk and raï.
Barclay is a French record company and label founded by Eddie Barclay in 1953.
Olufela Olufemi Anikulapo Kuti, popularly known as Femi Kuti, is a Nigerian musician born in London and raised in Lagos. He is the eldest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti and a grandchild of political campaigner, women's rights activist and traditional aristocrat Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti.
Keinan Abdi Warsame, better known by his stage name K'naan, is a Somali-Canadian musician. He rose to prominence with the success of his single "Wavin' Flag", which was chosen as Coca-Cola's promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Besides hip hop, K'naan's sound is influenced by elements of Somali music and world music. He is also involved in various philanthropic initiatives.
Red Hot Organization (RHO) is a not-for-profit, 501(c) 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.
Knitting Factory Records is an independent American music label that is notable for promoting a variety of artists, including the music of deceased Nigerian political activist Fela Kuti. The label promotes a variety of music artists including Ages and Ages, Ash Black Bufflo, Cuong Vu, Graham Haynes, Femi Kuti, Gary Lucas, Lumerians, Thomas Chapin, Patrolled By Radar, Joe Morris, Rachid Taha, Seun Kuti, and Shilpa Ray and her Happy Hookers.
The BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music was an award given to world music artists between 2002 and 2008, sponsored by BBC Radio 3. The award was thought up by fRoots magazine's editor Ian Anderson, inspired by the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Until 2006, the awards panel was chaired by Charlie Gillett and the awards shows co-ordinated by Alex Webb.
Stuart D. Bogie is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and music producer. Originally from Evanston, Illinois, Bogie became a staple in the Brooklyn music scene.
Naïve Records is a French independent record label based in Paris, specializing in electronic music, pop music, jazz and classical music.
SOB's is a live world music venue and restaurant in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manhattan. S.O.B.’s is an abbreviation of Sounds of Brazil. Larry Gold started SOBs in June 1982, and he currently still owns the space. Gold opened the venue with the purpose of exposing the music of the Afro-Latino diaspora to as many people as possible. It has a standing capacity of 450, and a seating capacity of 160.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony took place on 11 June at the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg, two hours before the opening match of the tournament. The ceremony started at 2pm local time and lasted 40 minutes. The ceremony involved 1500 performers, including Thandiswa Mazwai, Timothy Moloi, Hugh Masekela, Khaled, Femi Kuti, Osibisa, R. Kelly, TKZee, Hip Hop Pantsula and the Soweto Gospel Choir.
Béco Dranoff is a Brazilian-American music producer and creative Brazilian music events and film producer and co-founder of the Ziriguiboom Discos music label.
Red Hot + Rio 2 is a collaborative album released June 28, 2011 as part of the Red Hot Organization's series of tribute music records that aim to raise money for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. The album aimed to pay homage to the influence of the Tropicália genre and cultural movement that arose in Brazil in the late 1960s. The Tropicália movement was noted for its genre-bending sound that melded influences of 'traditional' Brazilian music like samba, forro, and Bossa Nova with international styles of pop, rock, funk, and soul music. Likewise, Red Hot + Rio 2 included collaborations of some of the Brazilian artists that pioneered the Tropicália movement along with international artists from various genres.
Zoom is the ninth and final studio album by French–Algerian singer Rachid Taha. It was released by Wrasse Records on 2 April 2013. It was produced by guitarist Justin Adams, with featured guests Mick Jones and Brian Eno. Jones also toured with Rachid Taha as part of the Zoom project.
Couleur Café Festival is an annual urban contemporary music festival taking place around the end of June or early July in the city of Brussels, Belgium, organised since 1990. Since its inception, the festival had been located at Tour & Taxis, but from its 2017 edition it has moved to the Heysel Plateau near the Atomium. The scope of the three-day festival lies on world music with as main styles funk, hiphop, reggae, dance, dub, soul, Latin, blues and rock divided over four stages. Internationally famous acts as well as less known talent or locally popular musicians are represented.
Africa Express is a UK-based non-profit organization that facilitates cross-cultural collaborations between musicians in African, Middle Eastern, and Western countries. It seeks to help African musicians break beyond the stigmas and prejudices of the term 'world music', while presenting a positive impression of Africa to counter against common media images of war, famine, and disease. Notable events that Africa Express has been involved in include performances at the 2012 Olympics, the Glastonbury Festival, the BBC Electric Proms, Denmark's Roskilde Festival, a tour of Syrian refugee musicians, and concerts in such places as Mali, the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, and France.