‘Always something unusual’. This is what a journalist once wrote about the cd’s released by Music & Words.

Ranging from American blues to merengue from the Dominican Republic,from punk-folk to singer-songwriters: this and much more can be foundin our catalogue.

 

To help you find your way in our rather diverse catalogue we created different labels. MW Records means singer-songwriter and contemporary folk Red White 'n Blues is dedicated to blues, cajun and related American styles Zimbraz offers you African, South-American and Caribbean sounds Fréa Records specializes in folk and other European traditions (from flamenco to klezmer) Papyros releases music from Asia and the Arabian world Dig It! has no roots background and is reserved for pop music and spoken word -I-C-U-B4-T- contains auto-productions by rather different artists

The starting point for Music & Words is traditional music from all over the world, in all its aspects. But we do not define ‘traditional’ too strictly. For, blues is based in tradition, as well as jazz. Our catalogue contains many styles, but we always strive for ‘something unusual’.Musicians hailing from the Benelux have a special place in our roster. We try to support them, regardless of the country they originated from. Special attention is given to ‘forgotten’ music from the Netherlands. The stunning book-cum-cd about Street carnival in Maastricht is one example, but also the ambitious 9-cd-box with traditional Dutch folk music.

In 1990 Music & Words released its first cd, the self-titled debut from the avant-garde group Appellation Contrôlée with contemporary classical music as well as pop, arranged for hurdy-gurdy and melodeon. We named the label MW Records. Later that same year albums by the merengue bands Cita con el Pasado and Tipica Manzana as well as the debut by Netherlands’ famous cajun & zydeco group Captain Gumbo were put on the market. Early 1991 we even scored a modest hit with the single Allons à Lafayette!

From that moment on things changed quickly. Business boomed and our catalogue became so divers that we decided to create separate labels for different genres. The name MW Records was now only used for singer-songwriters and similar styles. We also started to look for partners in other organizations. Together with Paul Rans, producer at Klara, the Belgian classical station, we set up a series of interesting, but quite distinctive cd’s, ranging from Indian classical music to flamenco and lute music.The World Roots Collection was compiled by Frans Goossens (musical director of the famous venue Melkweg, Amsterdam) and is a part of the Zimbraz label. The present day At the moment we focus mostly on world music in its broadest sense. Cyberspace and digitalization have our full attention: watch this space for new developments!