Fonó is now one of the best record labels

As the only Hungarian record label we are again on this year’s WOMEX Top Label Iist!

Fonó is now one of the best record labels

WOMEX has recently announced its annual Top Label list: among the hundreds of labels, Fonó, as the only Hungarian label, has made it into the first 20, and was awarded the 12th position. The Top Label list of the best world music labels is compiled based on toplist results, and is announced before the internatinal world music meeting in October. Fonó has earned its position by releasing the following records: Shutka Roma Rap: ’Me Sijum Underground/I Am Underground’, ’Asvin’ by Karavan Familia, and Róbert Lakatos & the Rév: ’Révület’ (Day is Dawning).

The director of Fonó, which has become active in the past years not only as a concert venue but as an organiser of a number of festivals as well, László Horváth believes: ”Releasing records these days is not necessarily a lucrative business, but creating a new album inspires musicians a great deal, and it inspires us as well. A new album is just like the opening night of a theatre play, it is unmissable, and for the band it is their entrance ticket to important festivals, it broadens their horizons and sets new goals. Bands would be stuck in their development, if there were no labels, who undertook this task.”

This past year Fonó published 15 new albums, and its entire porfolio of the past two decades consists of 200 publications, among them: all albums of Csík Ensemble, Ágnes Herczku, Félix Lajkó, Miklós Both, Mihály Dresch, and Cimbaliband. Its unique release of ’Új Pátria’ (”New Home”), which is the result of the Utolsó Óra / Final Hour project, that is the largest Hungarian folk music collection of the turn of the millennium, and contains all the recordings of the project.

Last year Fonó as a label made it into the top 20 of the WOMEX Top Label with its the release of Félix Lajkó’s toplist firts album and Miklós Both’s album entitled ’FolkSide. Based on the number of this year’s releases and their results, Fonó was awarded an even better position; “using a football metaphor, Fonó has made it into the Champion’s League round of 32”” – says the director.

Over the past year, the World Music Charts Europe (WMCE) have tracked the monthly charts of 45 radio broadcasters from 25 countries. The winners of this category are the labels that have the most popular releases in this network. The number one labels on these lists are presented an award at the WOMEX. The WOMEX 14 Label Award goes to the German Glitterbeat Records.

Award winners of the past years:
2013: Riverboat Records/World Music Network (UK)
2012: Lusafrica (France)
2011: world village / Le Chant du Monde / harmonia mundi (France/USA/UK/Spain)
2010: world village / harmonia mundi (France/USA/UK/Spain)
2009: Crammed Discs (Belgium)
2008: Cumbancha (USA)
2007: Stern's (UK)
2006: World Circuit (UK)

The Top Label list can be browsed here, on the WOMEX website.

And here are this year’s releases of Fonó.