Irma Records

Irma Records | Launched: 1989 | Location: Bologna, Italy
Founded by: Umbi Damiani and Massimo Benini
Diverse Sublabels: see Discogs

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IRMA records was born in 1988 in Bologna by Umbi Damiani and Massimo Benini. In those years in Italy it rose the House Scene and the Productions of IRMA also focused initially on this genre. Since from the beginning the first international successes came: Soft House Company, Be Noir, Mozart & Master Freez and especially the world of dance hits Double Dee “Found Love”, which topped the dance charts around the world, include the number 1 of the USA Billboard Dance Charts. In the early ’90s a succession of individual productions of Dance House where playing on the Clubs and IRMA was fallow this tendency but also has begun the production of whole Albums by Artists and Groups, in particular IRMA was focus on the first Album of Jestofunk “Love in a black dimension” and on the singles extracts from it (“Can we live”, “Say It Again”, “I’m gonna love you”), the result was that it arrived at the top of international rankings.

The initial musical style was then evolved into many different genres starting from Acid Jazz and Trip Hop. In regard of the Artist Albums developing, the more important were: Sarah Jane Morris, Bossa Nostra, Ohm Guru, Black & Brown, Gazzara.

Also during those years in Italy appeared the Italian hip hop scene and IRMA discovered one of the most important Artist who first gained popularity: Frankie Hi Nrg with the song “Fight Da Faida”. After on the same kind of field were also issued Albums of Colle Der Fomento, Ice One and Alta Tensione. Then in the mid 90’s IRMA was one of the labels in the world to launch the new music genre called Lounge / Chill Out, thanks to a successful series of compilations (“IRMA Chill Out Cafe”) and some Artists like Montefiori Cocktail, their distinctive sound gave birth to a new original musical genre called “Cocktail Music”.

During the next years approaching to new millennium, IRMA continued to deal with the most interesting kinds of music appear on the international club scene like Drum’n’Bass, Breakbeat, Jazz House and Nu Jazz. Great attention it was also given at the Brazilian music, starting with a Band called Bossa Nostra and with their singer Bruna Loppez, than with the Album of the brazilian percussionist Dom Um Romao, than again with Band like Man Sueto, Banda Favela, Arcoris, Nu Braz and with a successful compilations series entitled “Sister Bossa” up to the first 2nd millennium year. On the 2004, finally another big international success arrived with the Brazilian Duo Kaleidoscopio, who had the highest of radio listeners as well as in Italy, in Europe and in Japan with the smash hits “Voce me apareceu”.