World Circuit (record label)
The record label World Circuit was founded in London in the mid-1980s and specializes in world music. His roots lie in the artist agency Arts Worldwide , headed by Mary Farqharson and Anne Hunt, who primarily wanted to remedy the shortage of nationwide available sound carriers from the artists they supervised. Her first productions appeared in 1986, and the next year the African studies student Nick Gold was hired to oversee the label activities.
1987 was also the year in which recordings by the Malinese guitarist Ali Farka Touré brought the label first attention. Licensed recordings from Latin America and with the Orchestra Baobab from Senegal followed.
In the early 1990s, the partners separated. Anne Hunt joined the Corasón label in Mexico and Nick Gold ran World Circuit alone.
The great success came in 1993 when Ry Cooder showed an interest in recording with Ali Farka Touré for the label. There was Talking Timbuktu , a resounding success in the world music charts. The crossover to the general public succeeded in 1996, again with Ry Cooder and another musician of the label, Juan de Marcos González : with the projects around the Buena Vista Social Club .
World Circuit has always had a permanent partnership with Nonesuch in the USA .