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Irma Records

Irma Records

LABELS AND MUSIC PRODUCTION

Irma Records

IRMA records was founded in Bologna in 1988 by an idea by Umberto Damiani and Massimo Benini. Together they ran a wholesaler and some record stores in Emilia Romagna. This had brought them in contact with the musical artists of the region, very present especially in the discos of the Adriatic Riviera.

In the ’80s the independent music of “house genre” was born in Italy and contacts with some deejays like Luca LTJ Trevisi, Claudio Mozart Rispoli and some musicians like Francesco Montefiori and Cesare Collina gave life to the first productions and the first single vinyl mix of ‘record label.

The initial full name was IRMA Casadiprimordine and derived from the name of a very popular brothel in Bologna in the 50s that had been housed in the same building where the label offices were then located.

The English and American deejays fall in love with the particular sound of these first singles: Key Tronics Ensemble. Soft House Company, Be Noir, Don Carlos, Riviera Traxx, Mozart & Master Freez and above all the first big international success: Double Dee featuring Dany with “Found Love”, in fact reaches the n.1 of the Dance Charts of the whole world.

With the success of the singles signed Jestofunk (“Can we live”, “Say it again”, “I’m gonna love you”) and of the Datura group (Yerba Del Diablo, Eternity and Devotion) the record label publishes the first complete albums, thus beginning what would have been from then on the main editorial choice.

THE ALBUM OF JESTOFUNK 'LOVE IN A BLACK DIMENSION' IS A FUSION BETWEEN FUNKY HOUSE AND ACID JAZZ AND ON THIS KIND STARTS A RELEASE LINE CAPACI TO TRACK A NEW IMPORTANT ROAD FOR THE LABEL WITH GROUPS AS BOSSA NOSTRA, MAN SUETO, GAZZARA , BLACK & BROWN, OHM GURU WITHOUT FORGETTING THE ENGLISH SINGER SARAH JANE MORRIS.

mandibolarecords_etichettadiscografica

Mandibola Records_

Also in the 80s the new Hip Hop scene in Italian was born in Italy. One of the first musical publications of the genre, broadcast by Italian networks, is an IRMA artist: Frankie Hi Nrg Mc with the song Fight Da Faida. From that success comes a sub-label dedicated to the Italian hip hop genre: Mandibola Records. Among the leading artists we find Ice One and the Colle Der Fomento, considered by all among the masters of Italian style.

_Irma La Douce

La Douce was founded in the 90s and is focused on Cocktail music: references to Italian soundtracks and soundtracks 60/70 years mixed with the sound of dance and dance music, even coming from black music or Brazilian music. Montefiori Cocktail, Sam Paglia, Papik, Ely Bruna and Sugarpie & The Candymen are just some of the names of the label, without forgetting the very popular compilations of original unpublished 60/70 music like the Mo’Plen series. The name is borrowed from Billy Wilder’s famous film with Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon, Irma La Douce.

Irma La Douce

The 90s are also the years of the birth of the Cocktail Music genre in which the group of Montefiori Cocktail is recognized internationally as one of the best examples, thanks to their fusion of vintage sounds, electronics and fun.Thanks to some famous clubs in Ibiza and to the success of the genre Chill Out, the record label begins some of its most popular compilation series: Chill Out Cafè, Formentera De Dia and De Noche, which has led it over the years to be one of the worldwide reference labels of the genre.

In recent years, the range of the musical genre treated by Irma Records has further expanded. After going through all the dancefloor genres such as Deep House, Jazz House, Soulful House, Techno, Trip Hop, Drum’n’bass, Breakbeat, Electronics, there were also Indie Rock productions, singer-songwriters, Jazz, Trap, World Music reaching a catalog of over 12,000 songs.

With their associated music publishing company, Music Market, they also give life to important synchronizations for commercials and soundtracks, such as the soundtrack of the popular television series Sex And The City and the series of anime Lupine III, Moreover, typical of label are the operations of special marketing with major commercial brands including Benetton, Levi’s, MTV and many others.

© Irma Records