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NTS GUIDE TO: DISQUES DEBS

Diving into the back catalogues of one of the greatest of all French Caribbean labels, Disques Debs. Emerging in the late 1950s under the vision of Henri Debs, Disques Debs became a cornerstone of Guadeloupe’s music scene, shaping the island’s sound for decades. The label’s vast catalogue spanned genres from biguine and bolero to cadence-lypso, zouk, and reggae, releasing an impressive array of over 300 7" singles and 200 LP albums during it's time. Henri Debs ensured his studio remained at the cutting edge of sound production. Regular trips to New York and Paris allowed him to source the latest recording equipment and master new techniques, keeping his facility ahead of the curve. By the ’70s and ’80s, it had become one of the most sophisticated studios in the Caribbean, drawing artists from across the region - including Martinique, Dominica, Antigua, St Lucia, and Haiti - who sought its superior sound quality. Debs also documented this progression through extensive photography, charting the studio’s transformation from modest four-track machines to a top-tier SSL mixing desk. Curated by Hugo Mendez

Foreign Hour

Adam Cooper aka Foreigner heads the Foreign Hour show - a monthly offering of contemporary music from dembow to hip-hop shining light on the diaspora.