Narada is a record label formed in 1983 as an independent

new-age music New-age is a genre of music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management to bring about a state of ecstasy rather tha ...

label and distributed by MCA. From 1997–2013, the label was owned by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

on behalf of EMI. Since 2013, it is a fully owned subsidiary of

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

and distributed by

Capitol Music Group Capitol Music Group is an American front-line umbrella label operating as a unit of Interscope Capitol Labels Group, itself a division of Universal Music Group. Inherited from UMG's acquisition of EMI's catalog in 2013, it oversees the handling of ...

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by History of the Jews in Germany, German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it deriv ...

. The label evolved through an expansion of formats to include

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celts (modern), Celtic people of Northwestern Europe (the modern Celtic nations). It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and ...

, new flamenco, acoustic guitar, and piano releases.

Label history

In 1979, John Morey started a mail-order business to sell new-age music. This led to the creation of Narada in Milwaukee in 1983, and the roster eventually included David Arkenstone, Jesse Cook, Michael Gettel, Michael Jones, David Lanz, Oscar Lopez, and Billy McLaughlin.

bought Narada in 1997, along with Higher Octave and Back Porch, and directly signed Yanni, along with other New Age and Smooth Jazz acts. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Narada created several sub-label imprints to differentiate its offerings, in particular Sona Gaia, Antiquity Records, Rising Sun Records, Narada World, Narada Equinox, Narada Jazz, Narada Lotus, and Narada Mystique. Since the acquisition, Narada was the principal U.S. licensee for Peter Gabriel's Real World Records until 2008. The sub-labels of Narada were retired and their albums folded into the company's main imprint, Narada. Shakti Records was created in 2000 for electronic music, but the last release was in 2004 as Narada concentrated on contemporary jazz. Higher Octave and Back Porch were absorbed into Narada in 2004 as sub-labels, without the original staff, significantly reducing their roster of artists and albums. In 2005, Narada was named No. 4 in the 2005 top four contemporary jazz labels in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine's year-end charts. In 2006, EMI moved Narada from Milwaukee suburb

Glendale, Wisconsin Glendale is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 13,357 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A suburb north of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. History The Glendale area has ...

to EMI headquarters in New York City, to become part of the expanded role for Blue Note, EMI's consolidated label group for music for adults. Likewise merged in were

Mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

, Capitol Jazz, Roulette Jazz, Pacific Jazz,

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

, and Metro Blue; announced plans were to continue using existing imprints. As part of this consolidation, Narada's involvement with new-age music was reduced with Narada's focus narrowed to mainly contemporary jazz; new age would be put on sister label Higher Octave.

Roster

* Azam Ali * Altan * Ancient Future * David Arkenstone * Spencer Brewer * Bob Baldwin * Peter Buffett * Doug Cameron * Paul Cardall * Colin Chin * Jesse Cook * Joyce Cooling * John Doan * Down to the Bone * Lila Downs * William Ellwood * Dean Evenson *

Alasdair Fraser Alasdair Fraser (born 14 May 1955, Clackmannan, Scotland) is a Scottish fiddler, composer, performer, and recording artist. Fraser operates Culburnie Records and is a leading artist on the label. He has founded various summer fiddling prog ...

* Michael Gettel * Wayne Gratz * Ralf Illenberger * Jim Jacobsen * Michael Jones * Bradley Joseph * Martin Kolbe * Kostia * David Lanz * Nando Lauria * Gabriel Lee *

Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer specializing in electric bass guitars, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (19 ...

* Oscar Lopez * Jeff Lorber * Peter Maunu * Keiko Matsui *

Kathy Mattea Kathleen Alice Mattea (born June 21, 1959) is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, including four that reac ...

* Billy McLaughlin * Robert Miles * Sheldon Mirowitz * Bruce Mitchell * Carol Nethen * Judith Pintar * Kate Price * Kim Robertson * Randy Roos * Don Ross * Bernardo Rubaja * Nancy Rumbel * Richard Souther * Paul Speer * Ira Stein *

Miriam Stockley Miriam Arlene Stockley (born 15 April 1962) is a South African singer. She was born in Johannesburg, and her work is influenced by the Music of Africa, African music of her home country. Her distinctive ''vocal warm up#Vocalise, vocalise'' style ...

David Sylvian David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt; 23 February 1958) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan (band), Japan. During his time in Japan, Sylvia ...

* Eric Tingstad * Tingstad & Rumbel *

Trapezoid In geometry, a trapezoid () in North American English, or trapezium () in British English, is a quadrilateral that has at least one pair of parallel sides. The parallel sides are called the ''bases'' of the trapezoid. The other two sides are ...

* Artie Traum * Vas * Andrew White * Friedemann Witecka * Simon Wynberg *

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, five Grammy Awards, and has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards and a Tony ...

Compilation albums

* '' 20 Years of Narada Piano'' * '' Grand Piano (Narada Anniversary Collection)'' * ''Gypsy Passion: New Flamenco'' * '' Narada Smooth Jazz'' * ''Stories (Narada Artist Collection)'' * ''The Next Generation – Narada Sampler'' * ''Narada Film and Television Music Sampler'' (1998) * ''The Wilderness Collection'' (1990) * ''Viva Flamenco!'' (2000) * ''Flamenco: Fire and Grace'' (1996)

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Music of Wisconsin 1983 establishments in the United States Record labels established in 1983 Easy listening record labels American jazz record labels EMI Virgin Records New-age music record labels World music record labels Universal Music Group Smooth jazz record labels Companies based in Los Angeles