Part of the alternative

SWP Records is a small independent record label. We release music that regular labels won't touch! What's the matter with them? What's the matter with us?

Well, in the cd business today even specialist labels are increasingly playing safe – a production must be 'commercially viable'. We believe in the music we release, we believe that our albums contribute – even if it's just in a small way – to the further development of music, in fact we believe that there is a place for thinking and creating which is independent of the market.

We release:
1. the music of Zambian-born drummer and composer Michael Baird – called 'voodoo-jazz' years ago by a German journalist;
2. traditional music from central, eastern & southern Africa, including the first and only album of the Batonga people from the Zambezi Valley and a whole series with unique historical recordings from the archive of one of the great pioneers of ethnomusicology Hugh Tracey – music as an endangered species! Tracey's archive is kept at I.L.A.M. in South Africa.

So there is an alternative – and SWP Records is part of it! If music is a sub-conscious stream of sounds then there is a main current – and there can be nothing wrong with that – but all the minor eddies, splashes and meanderings taking place at the sides are by no means less relevant. Welcome, enjoy your visit to our website and enjoy the music we have released.

You can order all our albums online securely via this site – with a valid creditcard. Your order will be dealt with directly and you will receive it swiftly and by airmail. If you live in The Netherlands, you can also pay by bank or giro – into our bank account no. 42.17.98.505 to the name of St. Sharp Wood Productions, in Utrecht, stating the catalogue number(s) of the cd(s) required. Moreover, SWP Records are distributed through the 'normal' channels in the USA by Stern's Music, in Japan by Ahora, in the UK by Stern's, in Sweden by Multikulti, in Germany, Austria and Switzerland by NewMusic, in Portugal by Tradisom, in Canada by SRICanada, in Norway by Etnisk Musikklubb and in The Netherlands and Belgium by Music & Words.

SWP Records, Zilverstraat 9, 3511 VB Utrecht, The Netherlands. tel: +31-30-2318339.