Crammed Discs

Founded in Brussels in 1980 by Aksak Maboul’s Marc Hollander, Crammed Discs has built its catalogue around encounters between avant-rock, experimental music, pop, electronic music and artists working across national and musical lines. Its releases have connected musicians from Western Europe and the US with artists from the Balkans, North and Central Africa, South America, the Middle East and Japan, without treating those connections as a separate “world music” category.

Hollander runs A&R for the independent label, alongside Hanna Gorjaczkowska, who works across artist development, marketing, distribution and art direction, and producer Vincent Kenis, director of the Congotronics series. In 2004, Hollander and Crammed received a WOMEX award at the World Music Expo, where they were recognised as seminal players in the world music field. The label’s own position is broader: it has consistently worked with electronic, indie pop and rock artists, including musicians who sing in languages other than English.

Crammed’s roster has reflected that approach in concrete ways. Between 2008 and 2015 it brought together artists including Congolese group Staff Benda Bilili, Belgo-Congolese rapper Baloji, Lebanese singer Yasmine Hamdan, Argentinian musician Juana Molina, Moroccan electronic artist U-cef and Ghanaian-Swiss band OY. Later signings have included Paris collective Acid Arab, Portuguese singer Lula Pena, experimental pop group Aquaserge, Lagos/London project Ekiti Sound, Ugandan-British band Nihiloxica, German-Peruvian electronic duo Los Pulpitos, Stubbleman, and Palestinian techno duo Zenobia.

For its 30th anniversary in 2011, Crammed assembled Congotronics vs Rockers, bringing ten Congolese musicians together with ten indie-rock players. Members of Konono No1, Kasai Allstars, Deerhoof, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Skeletons and Juana Molina collaborated with Kenis on a shared repertoire, then performed at 15 major festivals and venues across ten countries. The project captured the label’s long-running interest in collaboration rather than fixed genre or geography.