Putumayo World Music Vol.1|1
by Laura Gardner
All things “world” seem to be en vogue these days in the United States, whether it’s distressed furniture a la Provençal rustique or the mandatory Indian print festival wear; whether it’s imported Tuscan olive oil or Japanese sushi and sashimi; whether it’s Brazilian depilatory techniques or Israeli mud masks; African tribal art like Shona sculpture, to Eastern philosophies such as Buddhism and Zen. If you are in doubt, just look at the growing popularity of your local Pier 1, Cost Plus, or Target’s Global Bazaar division. Maybe we have globalization to thank, or maybe just Putumayo World Music.
Putumayo World Music, named after a Columbian river valley, has been one of the successes of the flailing music industry. With its niche market and intelligent branding, the company has single-handedly brought world music to the masses. By the end of 2005, the company sold over 10 million CDs spanning over 100 countries throughout Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Caribbean, and Africa. This year alone they sold 3 million CDs, the equivalent of $23 million in sales. The company is known for its distinctive branding, comprehensive liner notes, and sells the majority of their releases in specialty stores like zoos, cafes, health food stores, and museum gift shops.
The Beginnings
Putumayo was Dan Storper’s brainchild. When he was 16-years-old, his folk art collecting aunt and uncle invited him on a family vacation to Mexico where he spent one month traveling and one month working on an archeological excavation. This trip generated his interest in Latin America and in college at Washington University in St. Louis, he majored in Latin American Studies. Upon graduation, he traveled to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia – the places he had studied.
Not wanting to study law as his father had done, he decided, in 1975, to open a handicraft import shop inspired by traditional cultures. The store was on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, which he named Putumayo. The boutique grew into a chain of seven retail stores in New York, Boston, and Washington D.C., and in 1982, Putumayo began to design and sell clothing and crafts to other boutiques. Dan continued to travel, but instead of going to Latin America, he went to places like Nepal, India and Afghanistan to seek out traditional textiles and techniques which he would alter to make more accessible to a Western clientele. With Vogue and Mademoiselle exposure, Putumayo attracted celebrity customers like Jane Fonda and Mia Farrow. But it wasn’t until 1991 that the world music seeds germinated. Storper walked into one of his New York stores and heard “inappropriate” heavy metal music playing. Taking things into his own hands, he made a couple of world music tapes for in-store play to enhance the mood and create a matching ambiance, “I was always interested in finding music that helped create a good environment in my retail stores,” he explains. The tapes were inspired by an outdoor show that Storper had attended in San Francisco by the Nigerian band Kotoja who combined elements of Afro-pop with American R&B. Putumayo clothing customers were interested in the music and wanted a way to get it.
With friends in high places, Storper approached Richard Foos, then president of Rhino Records, and they agreed to collaborate on world music collections, defined as “international music with tribal origins.” With friend and bass trombonist Michael Kraus as head of non-traditional sales, they released their first two compilations in April 1993: Best of World Music: Vocal and Best of World Music: Instrumental. Artist Nicola Heindl illustrated the first two covers and all the subsequent ones with her distinctive folk art illustrations.
Co-Founder Michael Kraus had spent a number of years in Puerto Rico from 1964, where he was a professional musician and music teacher where he worked seven nights a week at the San Juan Hotel, which at the time was the biggest supperclub in the Caribbean. Headliners included Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett, Liza Minelli, and others. “I had some of the best times in my life in Puerto Rico,” Krauss reminisces. He was the only bass trombonist on the island, and the only American in the band. Waterskiing and spending time at his beach house were some of his favorite pastimes, and if Americans would come to the island, he would show them around. When he returned to the States, he faced the reality that in Local 802 (the musician’s union in New York), there were over 100 bass trombone players – stiff competition. He became entrepreneurish, and started vending t-shirts and other tourist items in Central Park. When friend Storper came to him with the music label idea, Krauss was running a legendary nightclub, Catch A Rising Star, where Seinfeld, Ray Romano, Jon Stewart, and Chris Rock performed before they were A-list celebrities. Storper had made Krauss a generous enough offer so that he left the nightclub.
Neither Krauss nor Storper knew much about the music industry, but they figured that of the 600 specialty shops that carried Putumayo clothing, 50% of them would carry the music along with the clothes, which ended up being the case. Currently there are 4,000 specialty shops worldwide that carry Putumayo Music, 3,000 of them in the United States.
Storper sold the Putumayo clothing stores in 1997 so that he could focus exclusively on the music. With ethnomusicologist Jacob Edgar traveling and researching music, they cultivated a strong database of traditional music. “I joke sometimes that [Jacob’s] had the best job at Putumayo,” Storper reflects, “I’ve had the second best because I spend a lot of my time dealing with sales, marketing, and operations, although I do get to travel.” Edgar’s primary purpose when he travels is to find music.
The Music and the Caribbean
“Guaranteed to make you feel good!” is Putumayo’s tagline. The company is committed to releasing upbeat and accessible music, to which critics have often called “World Music Lite.” Over 100 compilations have been released, representing over 100 different countries. Rather than being a music company per se, they consider themselves more of a “lifestyle” company – where they introduce people to other cultures through melodic and upbeat music. They select themes with broad appeal.
The Caribbean has been an integral part of their catalog. Michael Krauss notes that “Caribbean Party” is one of their biggest sellers, and it came out in 1997. Sometimes the theme is based on a particular region, like “Puerto Rico,” “Cuba,” “Jamaica,” and “Republica Dominicana.” Other times the theme is based around a musical style, like “Reggae Around the World,” or “Salsa Around the World.” They’ve also released “The French Caribbean” focusing on islands like Martinique and Guadeloupe; “The Caribbean” which includes soca, meringue, reggae, and compas selections; “Caribbean Party” and “Caribe! Caribe!” which focus on party music from the Caribbean. Peripheral releases like “Afro-Latino,” “Afro-Latin Party,” and “Congo to Cuba,” showcase artists from the Caribbean, but not exclusively.
Storper’s been to the Caribbean “between 15 and 20 times” he says. It first started out as a great place to vacation – his first trip was to St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. When he started the music label, the Caribbean was of interest to him for two reasons: 1. to find retailers who would sell the music he was putting out, and 2. to find artists from the area. He mentions the Caribbean stereotype of reggae and calypso music, but he was interested in other musical forms from the Dutch-influenced islands, the Latin islands, the French islands. “Barbados, Trinidad, Cuba, and Jamaica are pretty much the best-known islands, but virtually every island has artists that really are establishing reputations regionally or locally,” he explains. One of his favorite Caribbean artists, Kali, is from Martinique. What Storper loves about him is that he incorporates reggae, but he plays banjo – an unusual instrument for Caribbean music. Storper also cites Haitian jazz singer/songwriters Evelin Michel and Beethova Obas as excellent, as well as the Jamaican jazz of Ernest Ranglin, and Monty Alexander.
Chris Blackwell of Island Records’ fame, stopped by the Putumayo office in 1998 and invited Storper to Jamaica for a holiday party. Storper spent a week on the island exploring some of the interior of the island where he realized how big and diverse Jamaica is. This trip led to the production of the CD “Jamaica: Reggae Homeland.”
“On islands where people don’t have a lot of money, music is a big part of what lifts their spirits,” states Storper. He likes to draw connections between different regions and styles. “In Aruba, they speak Papiamento, which has a strong connection to the Creole of Cape Verde [island off of Africa],” he notes. Even New Orleans, “which some people call the northernmost city of the Caribbean,” was “influenced by escaped slaves who migrated and came from Haiti.” He muses, “One of the most interesting journeys of music is from Africa to the New World and back and around again.” In regards to back and around again, he understands the disconnect that often happens currently with music – local youth in the islands are listening to American R&B and hip-hop and not necessarily what the tourists want to hear.
While Putumayo hasn’t made a mega-star out of anyone they’ve featured on a compilation, they have gotten musicians much more exposure. Some artists have toured based on a Putumayo collection, while others have been on movie and TV soundtracks. Storper gives the example of Quito Rymer from Tortola who a lot of people had never heard of, but his song is the theme song for Storper’s syndicated radio show, and people have grown to know him from Putumayo’s “Islands” collection.
Music Selection
In addition to the Putumayo releases, Storper also has a syndicated radio show that he needs music for – his radio show does not exclusively broadcast tracks from Putumayo CDs. Sometimes he’ll do a theme on the radio that will lead to an album, or sometimes he’ll like a song so much that he’ll build an album around it.
Putumayo currently has a database of roughly 10,000 songs from the research that they’ve done. Ethnomusicologist Jacob Edgar will collect all materials in relation to the theme, and they’ll be reduced to a semi-final round by Storper. Then everyone in the New York office is invited to attend listening sessions. The staff is so diverse that they figure they get a good sample from those sessions (Putumayo has 70 full-time employees in the United States, and there are also small regional offices throughout the world: Antigua, Holland, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, Japan, and Singapore.) Staff members give their selections, final decisions are made, and rights are secured.
Artwork
Nicola Heindl’s distinctive folk art has been the company’s branding tool. She has been illustrating the Putumayo covers since the company’s inception in 1993. When Storper owned the clothing stores, a woman named Susan Brynner would decorate the interior window displays. Susan saw a card on Storper’s bulletin board done by her friend Nicola Heindl. When Heindl visited New York from London when Storper was thinking about starting the record label, Susan offered to introduce them. Storper invited Heindl to do the first two covers. She has painted over eighty album covers altogether, and her art is imprinted on of all of the print collateral from press kits to business cards.
Her work is predominantly acrylic and water-color, full of bold colors and lively scenes. She enjoys traveling and has often witnessed the cultures where the music is from. She often uses her own experiences for inspiration.
She’s based in England and does a limited amount of magazine illustration for Harpers Bazaar and Vogue, but Putumayo has an exclusive agreement for commercial product. “From day one, it’s given us a very strong brand identity, which has been very important,” reflects co-founder Michael Krauss.
Giving
Since Putumayo is a “lifestyle” company, they’ve found it important to give back to the communities where the music comes from, so charitable contributions have been a big part of their mission. Part of the proceeds of many of their releases goes to non-profit organizations. In the past, they’ve given to Make-A-Wish Foundation, Unicef, Global Exchange, Oxfam, Amnesty International, and others.
In regards to the Caribbean, the non-profits they have chosen to give to in 2006 have been the Jamaica Basic Schools Foundation (www.jbsf.co.uk) and Yele Haiti (www.yele.org). Part of the proceeds from the children’s CD “Reggae Playground” goes towards JBSF. There are over 1,500 basic schools in Jamaica that rely in large part upon volunteers and charitable contributions. Part of the proceeds from “The Caribbean” CD goes towards Yele Haiti, which is Wyclef Jean’s organization intended to empower the people of Haiti to rebuild their nation through music and development tools.
Putumayo is still donating all of their proceeds from the sale of “New Orleans” and “Mississippi Blues” to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. So far, they’ve contributed over $200,000 to this cause.
Future
The future looks bright for Putumayo World Music – they will continue to release compilation CDs to introduce people to various parts of the world. Their next Caribbean project will release in April 2007 – a party-themed album with several Caribbean, reggae, and African tracks. Storper also indicates that he’s interested in developing new products. Currently they have come out with two travel journals (one of which is a Caribbean travel journal), to which they intend to add.
They also want to develop a TV series for children, and a TV series of specials for adults. They’ve come out with one DVD so far, “Travel the World with Putumayo” – a collection of music videos from some of the artists on their compilations. When I spoke to Storper in early December, he was getting ready to film a music video for kids in Trinidad for a song that’s coming out next summer with the Trinidadian artist Asheba.
In regards to signing artists to the label, Storper said they’ve tried that but that they’re better at the compilations. He laughs, “Doing compilations is like dating and signing an artist is like getting married – you’re responsible for their careers. We just don’t have the time, effort, or focus. We release a new collection each month and it’s hard to pay attention long-term to an artist.”
It just so happens, however, that their ethnomusicologist Jacob Edgar has started his own label, Cumbancha, to fill in that hole. Ska Cubano is the first group on his label, and their first global release is The Idan Raichel Project, an Israeli artist who blends traditional Ethiopian folk music, Arabic poetry, Yemenite chants, Biblical psalms and Caribbean rhythms. Putumayo and Cumbancha will work closely together as Putumayo has an ownership portion of the fledgling label, and is overseeing their distribution.
Putumayo’s world is expanding which is good news for many. While customers are listening to music and feeling good, they are simultaneously introduced to cultures around the world, and putting dollars where they can affect change. All in all, it’s “guaranteed to make you feel good!”