In a scene dominated by a plurality of smaller record labels – which often burn bright and fast – there are few world music labels as respected and long-lived as Real World Records, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2019.
The label has always had strong ties with its sister organisations, the WOMAD festival and the Real World Studios. When the label started back in 1989, it was to coincide with the opening of the state-of-the-art recording studios in the idyllic village of Box in Wiltshire, which became a haven for some of the best musicians in the world to record, experiment and collaborate. Label manager Amanda Jones recalls: “We had a vision of a kind of ‘in sessions’ record label – taking the opportunity of artists coming into the UK for WOMAD to record live albums in the huge, wonderful ‘Big Room’ studio. This led to a vision for a record label that worked together with artists from all corners of the world – without a specific genre in mind; bringing together musicians who share an empathy with music in general, rather than simply a shared cultural background.”
The success of this vision is evident not only in the quality of Real World’s 200-plus releases, but also the sheer talent contained within – world-beating artists such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Misty in Roots, Terem Quartet, Afro Celt Sound System, Totó La Momposina and Thomas Mapfumo all made Real World Records their home. But the label’s philosophy has been to always take risks. “We were happy to support artists and music that are potentially challenging and will never reach a really significant wider audience, as well as those we feel should cross over with a much bigger appeal. Our expectations of commercial success vary a lot.” That’s why you can scroll through the catalogue and discover albums by still-little-known musicians – the Tsinandali Choir of Georgia, say, or Bhutanese Buddhist priest Lama Gyurme – and still be guaranteed of hearing a gem. “In some small way we have helped to introduce to a wider audience inspirational and beautiful music that may never have been heard.”
To celebrate their 30 years, Real World have remastered and re-released two albums by Khan – his first WOMAD performance in Live at WOMAD 1985 and his second collaboration with Canadian producer Michael Brook in Night Song – alongside a compilation, Worldwide: 30 Years of Real World Music, but you can be sure they’re not looking back for too long. Speaking of future plans, Jones simply says, “Keep on keeping on. [We’ll] embrace the wonderful music that comes our way and support it as well as we can, battle the current challenges of running a record label and continue to be brave and take risks in choosing the projects we support.”
Photo: Real World Records discography, by York Tillyer.