Happy birthday to Real World, launched 25 years ago by Peter Gabriel, and one of the most adventurous of the great British record labels. The initial aim was to provide an outlet – and state-of-the-art studios – for musicians playing at Womad, but Real World releases have been intriguingly eclectic. This three-album compilation starts with Mustt Mustt, that glorious vocal work-out by the great Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Then comes a song of escape from Somalia, a London-Asian dance fusion, American blues and gospel, and an instrumental opening to Peter Gabriel’s Passion, dominated by the haunting Armenian doudouk. This was the label’s first release, in 1989, and more than 200 albums have followed. The 48 chosen tracks here include music from Cuba, China and Mexico, Anglo-African fusion from JuJu and Dub Colossus, and experimental British folk from the late Martyn Bennett and Imagined Village. Real World changed the musical landscape – and this album shows exactly how and why.
