Putumayo World Music Celebrates its 10th Anniversary

Putumayo World Music Celebrates its 10th Anniversary with the release of a 10th Anniversary enhanced 2 CD retrospective and a nationally televised TV special on BET and BET Jazz

(PRWEB) October 1, 2003 --
For Immediate Release
This year, Putumayo World Music, whose distinctive music and packaging has earned it millions of fans, celebrates its 10th Anniversary with the release of the Putumayo World Music 10th Anniversary Collection featuring 24 songs, two music videos, rare photos, a video short of the Putumayo story and a 52 page booklet in English, Spanish, French and German.

Putumayo World Music was founded in 1993 by Dan Storper and Michael Kraus as an offshoot of the Putumayo clothing company that was started by Storper in 1975 and subsequently sold in 1997. In 2000, Putumayo Europe was established in Hilversum, Holland.

In association with Black Entertainment Television (BET) and BET Jazz, Putumayo has produced an hour long Putumayo 10th Anniversary Special. Hosted by African star Angelique Kidjo, it features exceptional music videos from around the world and will air on BET Jazz on October 24th at 1pm, 9pm and midnight, and BET on November 2nd at 1pm. It will also be made available to television networks around the world.

In the early '90s, world music had limited distribution and visibility in the U.S. and around the world. Since that time, Putumayo has been integral to the development of the world music industry and has broken through language and cultural barriers. 25 of Putumayos 100 albums have sold more than 100,000 copies each and Putumayo has sold almost 10 million albums over the past decade.

While working closely with record stores and distributors around the world, Putumayo has been a trailblazer in nontraditional marketing. It was the first record label to market world music broadly in cafés, health food stores, museums, bookstores and gift shops. Currently more than 2,500 specialty retailers in North America and more than 1,000 in Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and Australia sell Putumayo CDs in their stores.

Each Putumayo compilation features music by a variety of prominent international artists, including many tracks previously unavailable outside of the musicians home countries. Putumayo artists Habib Koité from Mali and Oliver Mtukudzi from Zimbabwe have begun to reach mainstream audiences through their collaborations with Bonnie Raitt and appearances on Late Night with David Letterman. The Putumayo release Homeland by South African legend Miriam Makeba was nominated for a Grammy in 2001.

The groundbreaking Putumayo World Music Hour was launched in 1999 and was the first syndicated world music show on commercial radio in the United States.The radio show now airs on more than 110 stations, both commercial and non-commercial in the U.S. and in 15 other countries including Canada, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Italy, Senegal, Turkey and Holland.

Putumayo's first foray into music for children was the 1999 release,World Playground, which has sold 150,000 copies. In 2002, the company launched the Putumayo Kids division. All of the CDs and activity kits in the Putumayo Kids series have won Parents Choice and numerous other awards. The two 2003 releases -- African Playground and Dreamland -- will be included in numerous "Best of the Year" lists in many

Parenting magazines. Putumayo Kids' award-winning Multicultural Activity Kits have been adopted as part of the curriculum in more than 1,000 schools and have reachedmore than 250,000 children.

To help bring multicultural education into schools, Putumayo established the non-profit Putumayo Cross-Cultural Initiative in 2002. A portion of the proceeds from all world music compilations produced in 2003 and beyond will be contributed to PCCI to provide multicultural teacher training programs (www.putumayo.org).

Putumayo World Music can be found on the World Wide Web at www.putumayo.com, where the complete Putumayo catalog and additional information about each of the Putumayo initiatives is available.
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Beginning October 1st, media can go to www.putumayopress.com for high-res jpeg images, press releases and company history.

Media Contacts:
Cassandra Goins, 1-800-995-9588 ext. 242, cassandra@putumayo.com
Leandro Herbstein, 1-800-995-9588 ext. 215, leandro@putumayo.com
Putumayo Kids: Beth Blenz-Clucas, 503-293-9498, blenzb@aol.com
Canada: Heather Kelly Communications, 416-364-5701, heather@heatherk.