Celebrating 30 Years Of Mr Bongo Records

2019 sees Mr Bongo Records celebrating 30 years of operations, after starting life in 1989 as a small record shop underneath Daddy Kool’s Reggae Store on Berwick Street in London.

They have since become the established bearer for hard-to-find, classic Latin music, particularly Brazilian, outside of the Americas. Over the years following their inception Mr Bongo moved three times within Soho and opened in Shibuya, Japan.

With a transitional move from retail to label over the course of four years from 1999, the label’s recording roster now features some of the finest Brazilian, Latin, reggae, African and Jazz artists including Ebo Taylor, Hollie Cook, The Skints, Jorge Ben, Joyce, Seu Jorge, Prince Fatty, Incredible Bongo Band, Terry Callier, Arthur Verocai and Marcos Valle among many, many others.

The tail end of 2016 saw Mr Bongo open a new store in Brighton beneath their office premises - a space which has to date played host to many brilliant in-store events including Nick The Record, Geology, Sassy J, DJ Format and others.

2019 celebrations include a label event at Brighton Dome; a Rough Trade takeover in August; several week-long Album Club takeovers at Spiritland, London; and events at RAPPCATS in LA. Label owner David Buttle was recently featured on BBC 6 Music Lauren Laverne’s Desert Island Disco.

Regarding the 30 years of operations, Managing Director of Mr Bongo Dave Buttle said:

‘I have always had retail in my blood for the last 30 years having opened 5 stores in that time. I know how hard it is to run a shop , but also how rewarding it is to sell records. Vinyl is the lifeblood of what we do and without your support we would not be here, keep on keeping on.’

Kartel are proud to play a part in the Mr Bongo story, delivering physical distribution globally across their diverse and exciting releases and reissues - and look forward to another 30 years of success for the Mr Bongo team.

Visit the Mr Bongo website here: www.mrbongo.com