Bulrushes Farm, Coombe Hill Road
RH19 4LZ East Grinstead
United Kingdom

http://www.arcmusic.co.uk

ARC Music offers the largest selection of World and Ethnic Music from all corners of the world. The catalogue covers a wide selection of music includi

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activities

• Publisher
  • Music
• Records
  • Label

visited events

• WOMEX 2004
• WOMEX 2005
• WOMEX 2006
• WOMEX 2007
• WOMEX 2008

company description

Our label celebrated its 30th anniversary in late 2006 an occasion certainly worthy of looking back and summarising achievements made throughout that time. Like many great stories this one started with an idea, with the enthusiasm and with the work (and lots of it) of one man - Horst Tubbesing. Horst recognised the difficulty of many talented artists to get recording contracts; so starting out in Germany, originally with a few vinyl recordings to suit the needs of touring artists from Bolivia, he founded the label 'Eulenspiegel' (this is where the EU of our album product numbers comes from and our logo of the winking owl with a mirror).

As the original pioneers in World Music we have come a long way. We are now an international company, with an in-house recording studio, in-house graphic design and in-house mastering - all this with our first ever release - the Bolivian EUCD1001, still selling after almost 30 years. From selling a few vinyl recordings from the back of a Citroen 2CV in 1976 to an international company delivering thousands of CDs each week to all corners of the world, the journey has not always been easy. Our label was the first to put folk & world music on CD in the late '80's and with these we were the first world music label to get into the international market.

The ARC Catalogue now consists of well over 600 titles of music spanning over 100 countries.

So from a one man company to a great team of very skilled specialists we have grown considerably and expanded ever since. Between 1990 and 2005 we have largely increased our catalogue, covering more and more areas of the world and presenting music as varied as Japanese Taiko, music from Central Asia, the acclaimed African release 'Mama Africa' by Suzzana Owiyo, the 'Agwaya' release on CD by Tanzanian-Zairean soukous group Orchestra Makassy and the hugely successful Flamenco Arabe album.

The last decade has also seen many dramatic changes in our level of operation. In the very early '90's, and due to our strong connections there, 80% of our sales were in Germany alone! We had 22 other international distributors, most of which are still with us today. A lot of work has gone into our international business and since those small beginnings our international business has increased to the point where we have approx. 80 international distributors, some of them the best in their country and the number is growing. Overall, we have increased our international business by 600%.

Additionally our music is used regularly in films and by TV producers worldwide. Recent placements have been in the James Bond film "Casino Royale", Stephen Spielberg's "Munich" and in the acclaimed film The Constant Gardener. We also receive weekly requests by other major and independent music labels wanting to use our music for their productions. Our music is promoted by almost 2000 media channels worldwide.

For many years now ARC Music has been attending all major music fairs and through this we have made our presence felt in the music industry. In 1998 we established the first version of our very successful website with 400 titles listed. The website had around 150.000 hits in the first 3 months alone and is visited weekly by many folk and world music lovers. We also released the popular "Catalogue on CD" which currently consists of 10 CDs. This unique set of CDs contains hundreds of clips from hundreds of ARC Music albums and is believed to be the largest collection of sounds from around the world.

There are numerous other achievements of which we are proud but our heart is warmest with the fact that we have brought joy to millions of people around the world through our music - this being the true purpose of our work.

All this would not have been possible without the music having been provided and recorded by our producers and artists, who come from all corners of the world. We especially thank Pipe Major Jim Banks (former Household Piper to HM Queen Elizabeth), for always getting us excellent Scottish Pipes and Drums, the late Mr. Deben Bhattacharya (master-ethnomusicologist) for giving us access to his wonderful archive of field recordings made in Asia and the Middle East.

Mr. David Fanshawe for his invaluable Pacific recordings (he provided us with the only OTAC approved live recording of the yearly Tahiti Festival), Mr. Robin Hogarth for being our man in South Africa and recording music on location for us from the Tswana people, the Xhosa Kings, the Zulus to Bushmen tribes in the Kalahari desert.

Mr. Hossam Ramzy who has produced many of our albums and recently recorded 'Women Singers of Sudan' and Mr. Hüseyin Türkmenler who has produced excellent recordings in Turkey for ARC Music. Lastly, there is one very special person who has been with us for more than 15 years now as producer, arranger, sound engineer and who has contributed greatly to the success of our recordings: our wizard of sound Pablo Cárcamo, special thanks to him. An outstanding multi-instrumentalist himself with many own products in our catalogue he has recorded more than 100 albums for ARC Music in the last 15 years.

PHILOSOPHY & GOAL
Music is one of the highest aesthetic art forms on earth and we believe it is very important to life and the survival of the society at large, thus we have a goal - "Aesthetic music in a drug-free culture".

MEDIA ON ARC Music
"...authenticity and raw energy." - Dirty Linen, USA

"...uniformly breathtaking." - Pulse! Tower, USA

"...riveting intensity..." - Rhythm Music, USA

"...powerful, emotional music."- The Warsaw Voice, Poland

"ARC Music is absolutely VITAL to any serious world music operation." - DX Radio Network, FANS ON ARC Music

FANS ON ARC Music
"...I can rely 100% that the music on the CD will be as good as your descriptions about the artists tell me in writing. I will buy 'Turkish Bellydance' and 'Adzido' and I know even before I have heard these CDs that the quality and the choice of pieces will definitely be good." - I.G.

"GOOD recordings are worth their price and especially with ARC I am willing to pay more, as such recordings are hard to come by." - T.E.

"ARC CDs I can buy without prior listening to them. I have never been disappointed - they were always very good and well worth the money." - K.N.
USA

ACHIEVEMENTS
ARC Music has been awarded the prestigious "Medal of Science & Art" of the Albert Schweitzer Society ÖASG.

The Society of ÖASG (Österreichische Albert Schweitzer-Gesellschaft) has been established since 1984. The world famous humanitarian Albert Schweitzer was a doctor of medicine, theology and philosophy. He was also an author and a very well-known musician. In fact he was an organ specialist and created a renaissance of Johann Sebastian Bach's music in Europe. Most importantly he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953.

The Albert Schweitzer Society was set up to keep the name and work of Albert Schweitzer alive and to provide honours and diplomas to persons and organizations who are achieving similar goals in the world. These achievements and merits are in the domain of the arts, sciences, culture, music, literature, journalism, etc. Horst Tubbesing, the founder of ARC Music, was awarded an "Honour-plaque" and diploma by ÖASG for his work in the arts. And ARC Music was awarded the "Honour Medal for Science & Art" together with a diploma. The main reason for this was for our production of aesthetic music and our goal which is "Aesthetic music in a drug-free culture".

The Albert Schweitzer Society believes that it is important to bring good things to the children of the world as they are the next generation. ÖASG has commended us for the production of our music and for spreading the message of our goal because these things affect young people positively thus creating a better world.
ARC Music has been awarded the St.A.A. "Special Award 1998" of the Order of the St. Andrew Association.

The St. Andrew Association (St.A.A.) is the "Cultural Division" of the Order of St. Andrew (est. 1688 in Scotland). It has a goal to build international co-operations in the domains of culture, arts and sciences and also honours achievements through awards et al. ARC Music was honoured in relation to its excellent achievements in the support of folklore music, especially in the field of Scottish and Celtic music and the conservation of traditions and cultural heritage which has specific relevance to the St.A.A.. Through our many recordings of folk, Celtic and Scottish pipes & drums, ARC Music therefore has been awarded with the "Special Award 1998" from the St. Andrew Association.