Luaka Bop: 21st Century, 21st Year Defyiing Genres

Luaka Bop: 21st Century, 21st Year in Stores on May 26th.

The beginnings:
“At my ‘interview,’ neither of us said more than four or five sentences for an hour,” explains Yale Evelev, Luaka Bop’s co-owner and main A&R man. “I kept thinking, ‘Shouldn’t he be asking questions?’ I remember the last thing David said was, ‘I have to do my laundry now because I just got off tour.’ The only thing that was clear to me in the end was, ‘What the hell just happened?’”

“When we were connected to Warner Bros., they expected pop sales numbers,” says Evelev. “I remember one of the marketing people saying, ‘Yale, we want you to stop doing these compilations,’ during my first few months. And I go, ‘We just sold 350,000 copies of Beleza Tropical. Why would you want us to stop this?’ ‘Because we think you can do better. We think you should sign bands.’ What they really wanted, though, was for us to sign bands like the Talking Heads.”


“We have always been admirers of any outlets that are doing something different, and particularly dig the Luaka Bop pressings of Os Mutantes, Los Amigos and Shuggie Otis,” says Cornershop frontman Tjinder Singh, who released his own seminal When I was Born For the 7th Time LP through the label. “World music itself seems to be a lazy term that defines others. However, Luaka Bop has always gone further than that, without feeding people too much information of the backgrounds of the artists. If people are going to get into it, they will, and if they have to do their own research it makes that experience more valuable.”

Or as Byrne puts it, “Luaka Bop tries to look at music without prejudice, without saying, ‘This belongs in this category and this belongs there.’ It's like spinning the ideal radio dial and hearing interesting stuff coming out of lots of stations.”

Twenty First Century Twenty First Year:

Track listing:
Ponta De Lanca Africano (Umbabarauma)- Jorge Ben
Aht Uh Mi Hed- Shuggie Otis
Fuzzy Freaky- David Bryne
Samba Sem Nunhum Probelma- Marcio Local
Keleya- Moussa Doumbia
Sexy- Los Amigos Invisibles
Rio Longe- Moreno +2
Bacalao Con Pan- Irakere
Valentin- Susana Baca
Sweet Melody- Zap Mama
Defeito 2: Curiosidade- Tom Ze
Whoever You Are- Geggy Tah
Static On The Radio- Jim White
Baby- Os Mutantes

I was at home and Dave Byrne called me in the nightfall, asking me about the Os Mutantes compilation Everything Is Possible. We spoke for a while, and I made suggestions on what songs should be included. We both chose the “dark sides”—our more unusual material. As we spoke, I remembered seeing his first gig at CBGB’s. It was a pleasure to see the cycle that started on a stage—with a girl ripping up telephone books—turn into a beautiful relationship. It was also a pleasure to meet and get to know Yale. Luaka is a symbol of energy renaissance and all the guys and girls that work there are a live testimony for it. —Sergio Dias of Os Mutantes