World Music Network is a UK-based record label specializing in world music. The World Music Network website features news, reviews, live music listings, and guide sections on world music. It also features an online "Battle of the Bands" competition.

History

Founded in 1994 by husband and wife team Phil Stanton and Colombian-born Sandra Alayón-Stanton, World Music Network consists of four record labels – Music Rough Guides,

Riverboat Records World Music Network is a UK-based record label specializing in world music. The World Music Network website features news, reviews, live music listings, and guide sections on world music. It also features an online "Battle of the Bands" compet ...

Introducing Introducing or Introducing... may refer to: Albums * ''Introducing'' (Bombay Rockers album), 2003 * '' Introducing... The Beatles'', 1964 * '' Introducing... Mari Hamada'', 1993 * '' Introducing...Rubén González'', 1997 * '' Introducing ... Tal ...

and

Think Global Think Global was an electric car company located in Bærum, Norway, which manufactured cars under the ''TH!NK'' brand. Production of the Think City was stopped in March 2011 and the company filed for bankruptcy on June 22, 2011, for the fourth ti ...

. Music Rough Guides releases the

Rough Guides Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on customer ...

CD compilations. Accolades include a 2009

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nomination for

Debashish Bhattacharya Debashish Bhattacharya ( bn, দেবাশীষ ভট্টাচার্য, hi, देवाशीष भट्टाचार्य, Devāśiṣ Bhaṭṭācārya, born 12 January 1963) is an Indian classical musician, singer, composer ...

– who was also awarded the BBC Best Asian Artist award in 2008 – a WMCE Top Label award and more

Songlines (magazine) ''Songlines'' is a British magazine launched in 1999 that covers music from traditional and popular to contemporary and fusion, featuring artists from around the globe. ''Songlines'' is published 10 times a year and contains CD reviews, artist in ...

'Top of the World’ releases than any other independent world music label. World Music Network, along with Riverboat Records, was presented with the WOMEX Label Award in 2013. In 2019, Phil Stanton died following a lengthy battle with cancer.

Riverboat Records founder Phil Stanton dies aged 54

Labels

Music Rough Guides

Music Rough Guides has been releasing the Rough Guide music series in association with the

travel book publishers since 1994, when the first world music book and album in that series were released. Since then Music Rough Guides have covered destinations as diverse as

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. They have also covered musical styles such as

merengue music Merengue is a type of music and dance originating in the Dominican Republic, which has become a very popular genre throughout Latin America, and also in several major cities in the United States with Latino communities. Merengue was inscribed ...

klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: ...

and

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

Riverboat Records

Since 1989 Riverboat Records have produced artists from around the world. Releases in recent years include those by the artists;

Mory Kante Mory is the name or part of the name of three communes of France: * Mory, Pas-de-Calais in the Pas-de-Calais ''département'' * Mory-Montcrux in the Oise ''département'' * Mitry-Mory in the Seine-et-Marne ''département'' Mory is also the name of t ...

Nuru Kane Nuru Kane (born Papa Nouroudine Kane) is a Senegalese singer/songwriter who plays guitar, bass and guimbri, a three-stringed bass in the band Bayefall Gnawa. Nuru's debut CD, ''Sigil'', which was released in the UK on March 14, 2006 and the r ...

Ramzi Aburedwan Ramzi Aburedwan (Arabic:, born 1979) is a Palestinian composer, arranger, educator; and viola and buzuq player. He is the founder of Ensemble Dal’Ouna and the Palestine National Ensemble of Arabic Music. He founded the al Kamandjâti music centr ...

, SambaSunda, Kristi Stassinopoulou & Stathis Kalyviotis and 'Gaelic Americana' artist

Kyle Carey Kyle Carey (born 1988) is a Celtic Americana musical artist who creates a synthesis of music called 'Gaelic Americana'. Biography Born in New Hampshire to schoolteacher parents, Kyle lived in Yup'ik native communities in the Alaskan bush unti ...

Introducing

A separate artist label to

, Introducing was launched by World Music Network in 2004, out of a desire to promote exposure for previously undiscovered musical talent from around the world. Introducing showcases artists previously unreleased or unavailable outside their own country. The Introducing label has had a number of releases including features for Ethiopian reggae-fusion project Invisible System, and Saharan blues band Etran Finatawa. Other projects include albums from Miami Latin hip-hop collective

Spam Allstars Spam Allstars are a United States nine-piece Hip hop, Latin, funk, and electronica band from Miami, Florida. The band has been described as "road warriors" because of their busy touring schedule. The band has performed at many music festivals i ...

, South African

maskanda Maskandi is a form of Zulu folk music, originally associated with migrant workers, that is evolving with South African society. Often characterised by a picking guitar style which draws on a variety of historical influences it also has an impor ...

player

Shiyani Ngcobo Shiyani Ngcobo was a Maskandi guitarist and teacher from South Africa who was a major figure in spreading the popularity of Maskanda outside of its homeland of South Africa. He toured Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, the United States and ...

, Chinese folk band Hanggai and a release by the desert blues master

Mamane Barka Malam Mamane Barka (1958/1959 – 21 November 2018) was a Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languages

Think Global

World Music Network has released a number of fundraising albums released in association with

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

and

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...

. The Think Global series aims to promote music that reduces poverty, defends human rights and encourages protecting the environment. Releases include ''Think Global: Women Of Africa'' and ''Think Global: Tango''.

Battle of the Bands

In the Battle of the Bands section of World Music Network's website musicians are invited to post their best original track and build their page with photos and text. Members of the public and World Music Network staff then review and vote for the winner. Each winner gets to have their material featured on future projects and a link to the winning track also gets sent to all the tens of thousands of people on World Music Network's mailing lists. Winners have included Giuliano Modarelli and Julaba Kunda (featuring Gambian griot Juldeh Camara)

References

{{Authority control World music record labels British independent record labels Record labels based in London