Wow, 21 years have already passed since the birth of Luaka Bop!  The record label, founded by Talking Heads’ David Byrne, originally began as a showcase of the vast musical genres that Brazil produces.  From Bossa Nova, to Rock en Espanol, to Pop music, Byrne created compilations stemming from his own vinyl collection that he used to hype up to his friends.  Which is something we’ve all pretty much done at one point in our lives, right?  Imagine pioneering a record label on the sole basis of a mixtape you made for your best friend for their birthday.   

Acquiring the music to make up these compilations are adventure stories worthy of Oscar hopeful feature length films, seriously!  For instance, when creating a compilation of the best works of Cuban songwriter Silvio Rodriguez, Byrne traveled to Cuba to rifle through the vaults of the Cuban government’s record label EGREM, traveled the country to hear the variety of music in different towns, and stayed in check as government officials literally tried to keep them from going astray.  Then there’s the adventure of reaching Indian film composer Vijaya Anand, which after 4 years of flip flop communication, a stealthy operation of smuggling tape into India for recording went down.  

Zap Mama (above) is another known name on the Luaka Bop label, that have evolved from an a capella group, and now incorporate and grow off other genres including reggae, rap, R&B, and more, which is a good example of what Byrne was going for with the label… Not genre-specific, just plain good ole music.

For more info and to read up on more adventures of how the music came together, check out Luaka Bop's homepage.