Nawa Recordings is an independent record label focused on releasing new, alternative, and experimental music from the Arab world.
The label was founded by multi-instrumentalist Iraqi musician and composer Khyam Allami in 2011 to release his debut album Resonance/Dissonance. Following Allami's deep-rooted desire to create a proper musical home for his own work, and that of like-minded musicians, Nawa was launched proper in November 2014 with Maurice Louca’s Benhayyi Al-Baghbaghan (Salute the Parrot).
Inspired by artist-led alternative indie labels such as Dischord, Ipecac and Brainfeeder, the label’s vision is to work with artists who have dynamic work ethics and a drive to constantly evolve and push the boundaries of their local idioms and contemporary genres.
It aims towards building a consistent and sustainable support network for its artists, to enable to immerse themselves in their artistic processes with minimal concern over issues of creative integrity, independence and rights.
Nawa Recordings also provides music publishing services - through Nawa Publishing - to ensure artists are able to protect their works and collect all royalties relevant to them across all territories.
Nawa is distributed worldwide by Cargo UK.