Hannibal Records was a British

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

and one of the first to work with the World music genre. Hannibal was started by

Joe Boyd Joe Boyd (born August 5, 1942) is an American record producer and writer. He formerly owned Hannibal Records. Boyd has worked on recordings of Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, The Incredible String Band ...

in 1980. Boyd had produced records by artists such as

Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter known for his acoustic guitar-based songs. He did not find a wide audience during his lifetime, but his work gradually achieved wider notice and recognit ...

The Incredible String Band The Incredible String Band (sometimes abbreviated as ISB) were a Scottish psychedelic folk band formed by Clive Palmer (musician), Clive Palmer, Robin Williamson and Mike Heron in Edinburgh in 1966. The band built a considerable following, esp ...

and

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...

and released recordings by these artists as well as others such as

Trio Bulgarka Trio Bulgarka ( bg, Трио „Българка“; also known as "Three Golden Coins", previously known as "Bulgarka Folk Trio") were a Bulgarian vocal ensemble. They gained international prominence through their contributions to the groundbr ...

on his new label. Around this time folk music from around the world was being released by different labels but was so varied it did not fit into a particular genre. Boyd and a collection of other music industry leaders decided to coin the term world music in order to give this music a name for marketing purposes. Hannibal began releasing records under the world music banner. In the early 1990s, Hannibal was purchased by independent label

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first Compact Disc, CD-only independ ...

. Joe Boyd continued managing the label until the late 1990s when

was purchased by Palm Pictures. After Boyd's departure from Hannibal the label lay dormant. In 1998, Andy Childs took over the running of Hannibal. A new line-up of artists was introduced including

Robert Wyatt Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is a retired English musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming para ...

Phil Manzanera Phillip Geoffrey Targett-Adams (born 31 January 1951), known professionally as Phil Manzanera, is an English guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the lead guitarist with Roxy Music, and was the lead guitarist with 801, and Quiet Sun. ...

and

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

, and the label began to reissue recordings from the All Saints label. As well as these established artists, Hannibal began to sign new artists such as folk rock band The Eighteenth Day of May. In 2006, Rykodisc was bought by the

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

. In December that year, Warner decided to close down Hannibal.

References

British record labels Record labels established in 1980 Defunct record labels of the United States World music record labels Reissue record labels {{US-record-label-stub

See also

References