Sheer Sound

Sheer Sound
Founded	1994 (1994)
Founder	Damon Forbes
Distributor(s)	IRIS (South Africa)
Genre	Jazz, rock, world, Afropop, house
Country of origin	South Africa
Official website	www.sheersound.co.za

Sheer Sound is a South African independent record label formed in 1994 by Damon Forbes.

History[]

Sheer Sound was formed in November 1994, shortly after South Africa's first democratic elections. The label was initially a home for jazz and world music and fast gained a reputation for its extensive South African and African jazz catalogue.

By the mid-1990s, a young music marketer, , was getting restless with the limited vision of his industry.

"I sunk my teeth into jazz because it carried a world music message for me; it was truly culturally representative.... I just looked at the market and I saw the economics of the people of South Africa changing, due to better access to education.... [And]the workplace was going to change; a lot more black people getting into jobs that are of medium and higher income levels.... With all that, comes the aspiration to listen to better quality music. [So] the market, in the long term, is going to increase."

With what he calls "R1 500 (just over $200) and a dream", Forbes established his own label, Sheer Sound. (Ansell 2005:269)

In 2006 two imprint labels, and , were formed under the Sheer Sound umbrella and has since released some of the most prolific rock and singer-songwriter music, respectively, in South Africa.

Roster[]

Singer-songwriter[]

• Farryl Purkiss
• Chris Letcher
• Shawn Phillips

Rock[]

• Wonderboom
• Myepic
• Cassette (Outside of RSA only)
• Libido
• New Academics
• Lionel Bastos
• Elusion
• eVoid

Afropop[]

• Mina Nawe

Jazz[]

• Jeff Maluleke
• McCoy Mrubata
• Winston Mankunku Ngozi
• Paul Hanmer
• Louis Mhlanga
• Tony Cox

Awards and nominations[]

See also[]

• List of record labels

External links[]

• Sheer Sound official site

References[]

• Ansell, Gwen. 2005. Soweto Blues. New York: Continuum Books. (The history of Sheer Sound taken from this book)