In Praise of Putumayo (well, mostly)

[Jamie Renton]

thank you for reminding me of such a gentile alternative to bullshit

Surely a gentile alternative to bullshit is pigshit

:-)

Jamie

[David Flower]

probably the major reason that Putumayo are successful is Dan Storper himself. His approach - he usually attends WOMEX - is hard-nosed and aggressive, bent on sales in the way a real saleman is maybe supposed to be. Like the Cohen who built Tescos, and all those guys. This marks him out as quite different from the vast majority of world music purveyers, who tend to be fairly laid back in their business transactions, as you might expect. Nothing wrong with it, but when he hits on you it feels you're on Wall Street all of a sudden. His previous experience in the rag trade (I think), led him to start using those outlets for the music. Smart.

[Charlie]

quite different from the vast majority of world music purveyors, who tend to be fairly laid back in their business transactions.

When Dan was my Radio Ping Pong guest, most of his selections were from Putumayo releases. As time rolled on, it turned out the rest were too, but from albums that had not yet been released.

When Nick Gold of World Circuit came on, none of his selections had anything to do with World Circuit.

But Nick's style might not have made any progress in the United States, if he had been trying to get started over there instead of in the UK.

It's hard to explain, but Dan is a very likeable and engaging person, for all his single-mindedness.

[ritchie]

coming in at a very late stage without reading all the posts is bordering on stupidity but that's years of reading newspapers from back to front for you.

as most of us will testify making a good compilation cd of music that defies any sort of criticism is extremely hard.

making a one to sell would be even harder and yet Putumayo consistently do it so well, lots of very good compilations, which appeal to lot's of different musical tastes and usually, introduce the listener to lots of delights for the first time.

I also like the covers ... in fact I was wondering can I get a book with them all in?

as Tom said in one of the later post's

I wish Dan continued success and long may Putumayo flourish!

my money has always been well spent on purchasing Putumayo CD's. ... and really .... that's all that really matters.... is n't it.

regards ritchie (currently listening to one of his own compilations)

[will vine]

I still cherish my Putumayo "Cover the World" compilation - english language hits reinterpretted in other languages and styles, furthermore I long for a volume 2. Are you reading this Dan?

[Con Murphy]

From a review in fRoots July 2008 edition:-

'Various Putumayo Presents African Party & Putumayo Kids Presents African Dreamland

Coming soon to a pot pourri and scented candle emporium near you. Nothing inherently wrong with many of the selections here, but this is music as lifestyle choice and the truly inquisitive will find the best of this music by other means. Meanwhile these albums will sell by the bucket-load with some of the proceeds going to AIDS charities, so everyone's a winner. '

which I interpret to mean:

Widely available to the mainstream public. A good selection of African tracks, (including Bonga, Chiwoniso, Toumani Diabaté, Ballaké Sissoko, and Mapumba to name but five) but this is music the plebs will buy only to try and appear intelligent, while people as clever as we are don't need bright graphics or clever marketing tools to find these artists, we just know. Meanwhile these albums will sell extremely well in comparison with most other world music compilations with some of the proceeds going to AIDS charities, so everyone's a winner. Oh bugger.

June

Almost spot on, except the bit about plebs trying to look intelligent (I think it's the wilfully eclectic that I was talking about) and the "oh bugger" bit at the end. I like it when everybody wins, especially victims of killer diseases.

I guess the problem I faced was squaring the circle of the internal contradiction articulated by Ian in his earlier post, ie:-

"I always feel embarrassed that on the whole Putumayo albums get unfavourable "And The Rest" reviews in fRoots"

and

"They are obviously not aimed at our readers"

and in so doing completely overstepped the mark, descending into smart-arsery and snobbery. PM me June and I'll send you the CDs - they clearly belong in a more deserving home.

PS I second the comments about Putumayo sleevenotes - they always seem well-written and informative (in contrast to the above review, you might well argue).

[Dayna]

A while ago, I heard parts of a Putumayo CD with Arabic music that sounded good at the bookstore.

[Dominic]

While searching for Hot Hits LP sleeves for Howard, I found these - surely the template for the Putumayo artwork...







(Lifted from http://www.easyontheeye.net )