Mr Bongo

about

From humble beginnings in the London basement of Daddy Kool’s reggae shop on Berwick Street, Mr Bongo is now seen as the standard bearer for Latin music outside the Americas. With regular imports from Latin America, Cuba and the USA to our store, we brought the Latin and Brazilian sound to discerning listeners across Europe, establishing a core interest which has since gone from strength to strength. Championed by characters such as Gilles Peterson and clubs like Dingwall’s in the late 1980’s, Mr Bongo soon began to establish itself as the leader and provider for the whole scene. In 1991, Huw Bowles entered the fray, bringing his own encyclopaedic knowledge of hip hop thereby expanding Bongo’s field of expertise. Initially stocking what is now termed old and mid school hip hop, Mr Bongo was the first store in the UK to start selling releases from independent US hip hop labels - artists like Jurassic5 had special Bongo vinyl pressings and we exclusively imported the first releases by Dr. Octagon, Mos Def and many others. As interest in this area grew, light was shed on the wealth of home-grown talent and the shop became a hot spot for now well known UK artists and DJs as well an essential stop off for all touring artists. Ray Barretto opened our much needed new premises in Lexington Street, London, as the Latin section expanded having to bite the CD bullet. Five years later the Mr Bongo store moved to its final and most well known premises in Poland Street, London. This

top songs

albums

Mr Bongo Record Club, Vol. 1

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Afro Funk (Original)

Mr. Bongo Record Club, Vol. 1

The Best Of Mr Bongo

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The Original Sound of Burkina Faso (Compiled by David 'Mr Bongo' Buttle and Florent Mazzoleni)

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Mundo Latino

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Mr Bongo Sampler 2013

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Mr Bongo

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Departure Lounge: World Rhythms

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Salsa Magic

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Soundcloud

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100% Carnival

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