About

Glitterbeat specializes in vibrant global sounds. The label was created to release records that simultaneously embrace evolving global textures and localized traditions and roots. Our artists are both culturally committed and resolutely contemporary.

Glitterbeat was founded in 2012 by co-owners Chris Eckman and Peter Weber and the label’s first records were released in the spring of 2013. Peter Weber was the original manager of the band Tamikrest. Chris Eckman has a long history as both an artist (The Walkabouts, Dirtmusic) and as a producer (Tamikrest, Aziza Brahim, Bassekou Kouyaté). The label is headquartered in Hamburg (Germany) and is a five-time winner of the WOMEX “Best Label Award” (2014-2018).

In 2017 Glitterbeat introduced a new label imprint: tak:til, which focuses on global instrumental music.

Glitterbeat in 2024 is a hub for musical innovation and expression, providing a platform for artists to showcase their work and reach new audiences. With a focus on quality, creativity, and cultural diversity, Glitterbeat continues to be a leading force in the world of global music, providing a constant source of musical discovery and inspiration.

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SoundSystem

Latest News

January 24th, 2025
New Album: Samba Touré • Baarakelaw
The legendary Malian desert blues artist Samba Touré, has returned with a new album Baarakelaw (The Workers) – the follow up to his highly-acclaimed 2021 album Binga. The album received ecstatic, career defining reviews and led to Samba being named the “Best Artist” of 2022 at Songlines magazine. Baarakelaw is a vivid mix of traditional northern Malian Songhoy music, blues-rock tracks with psychedelic overtones, ballads and love songs.
Get the album: https://idol-io.ffm.to/baarakelaw
January 17th, 2025
New Album: Parcham Prison Prayer – Another Mississippi Sunday Morning
A poignant sequel to Some Mississippi Sunday Morning (2023), the acclaimed prison recorded gospel album that UNCUT called “an inescapably spiritual experience.” Producer Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Ustad Saami) has returned to Parchman Farm to record a new collection of raw, haunting performances from the prison’s Sunday gospel service.
Unforgettable.
Get the album: https://idol-io.ffm.to/anothermississippisundaymorning
October 4th, 2024
New Album: Dal:um – Coexistence
El Khat’s 3rd album mute belies its title as it careens out of the speakers with a raucous intensity. Formed in the garages and warehouses of Jaffa and now based in Berlin, the group’s ever-expanding vision makes a defiant stand against complacency, conflict and division. Skittering drums and brass, a jagged organ, hypnotic Yemeni melodies and one-of-a-kind DIY percussion and string instruments, all meld together in an infectious, heady soundscape.
Get the album: https://idol-io.ffm.to/coexistence
September 13th, 2024
New Album: El Khat – mute
El Khat’s 3rd album mute belies its title as it careens out of the speakers with a raucous intensity. Formed in the garages and warehouses of Jaffa and now based in Berlin, the group’s ever-expanding vision makes a defiant stand against complacency, conflict and division. Skittering drums and brass, a jagged organ, hypnotic Yemeni melodies and one-of-a-kind DIY percussion and string instruments, all meld together in an infectious, heady soundscape.
Get the album: https://idol-io.ffm.to/mute
August 30th, 2024
New Album: Buzz’ Ayaz – Buzz’ Ayaz
Hailing from Cyprus’s divided capital Nicosia, and led by Antonis Antoniou, the founder of Monsieur Doumani and Trio Tekke, Buzz’ Ayaz creates a transfixing Eastern Mediterranean psychedelia. Their self-titled debut album is a fuzzed-out urban soundscape of dubby electronics, 70s-psych organ, growling bass clarinet, amplified folk instruments, ritual beats and Greek and Anatolian melodicism.
Get the album: https://idol-io.ffm.to/buzzayaz-album
June 21st, 2024
New Album: Bhutan Balladeers – Your Face Is Like the Moon, Your Eyes Are Stars
Produced by Grammy-winner, Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Ustad Saami, The Good Ones [Rwanda], Parchman Prison Prayer), the Bhutan Balladeers perform classical music from Bhutan called Zhungdra, that dates back to the dawn of the 17th century. The music features extended vocal tones that weave complex patterns, and melodies that are supported by minimal instrumental accompaniment. That instrumentation consists of the Drumnyen (a lute with 3 double-strings, also sometimes known as Drangyen), the wooden flute, Lemo (hammered dulcimer), and the Chiwang (a 2-string, bowed fiddle). Derived from Sanskrit, the Choekey language (“dharma language”) used in Zhungdra songs is indecipherable to most Bhutanese apart from Buddhist monks. The Bhutan Balladeers collective’s entire debut album was recorded live in a hilltop forest outside of the capital, Thimphu.
Get the album: https://idol-io.ffm.to/yourfaceislikethemoonyoureyesarestars
June 7th, 2024
New Album: Landless – Lúireach
Landless are Lily Power, Méabh Meir, Ruth Clinton and Sinéad Lynch. The Irish quartet sings centuries old ballads as well as more recently penned folk songs. Sometimes unaccompanied and sometimes with subtle instrumentation, their vocally rich music is dark and patient; spellbinding and gorgeous. Produced by John “Spud” Murphy (Lankum, ØXN) and featuring Cormac MacDiarmada from Lankum (fiddle, viola, banjo).
Get the album: https://idol-io.ffm.to/luireach

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