Lusafrica
| Lusafrica | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Founded | 1988 |
| Founder | José da Silva |
| Genre | World Music African music Urban music |
| Location | Paris, France |
| Official website | lusafrica |
Lusafrica, full name: Productions Lusafrica (French for Lusafrica Productions) is a multinational independent record label company based in Paris, France. The company was founded in 1988 by José da Silva (born in 1959 in Praia, Cape Verde), it was the first multinational record company opened in Cape Verde and one of the first in France. It is the main African independent label in France.
The company had produced records by artists mainly from Cape Verde and Other Lusophony companies, they later recorded by artists from the United States, Cuba, Brazil and France.
In 1987, José da Silva (b. 1959 in Praia), then track switcher for SNCF, chose to become a music producer at his expense. During his dinner in Lisbon at the restaurant with Cape Verdean singer Bana, he heard the voice of Cesária Évora for the first time and together proposed.
In 1988, Lusafrica was created and recorded the first album La Diva aux pieds nus which achieved huge success among the Cape Verdean community selling 3,000 vinyl records, notably with the single "Bia Lulucha". The following album Distino di Belita was recorded together with Parisian label Mélodie. Cesária Évora attended the Musiques Métisses concert festival in Angoulême, the first to touch a wider audience outside the Cape Verdean community. A year later, Mar Azul was released and later Miss Perfumado in 1992 that sold 500,000 copes, it featured the single "Sodade" which became an international success and the label competed with other record label giants including Sony and BMG.
Along with the success of Cesária Évora which won herself a Grammy Award for Best World Music in 2004, Lusafrica produced other artists, the company later lost money in the early 2000s, its catalog became most extensive.
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