The Music Plays On — Real World Records

June 21 is not only the one-hundredth day of my The Music Plays On articles but, more importantly, it’s World Music Day, or Fête de la musique. Today is a day that celebrates music and music-making around the world. Originally conceived by Maurice Fleuret in France in 1982, it now includes more than 120 countries. While I was music director of the New Hampshire Music Festival, we were the cornerstone organization that brought Fête de la musique to New Hampshire for the first time by launching Make Music Plymouth! on June 21, 2014.

Real World Records was created in 1989 by Peter Gabriel and WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance), a festival also created by Peter Gabriel, and this label has helped make available music from around the world unlike any other. Before the dawn of the internet, it was initiatives like Real World Records that helped reveal the world’s incredible wealth and variety of music. But what makes it unique is that it also pairs artists from completely disparate backgrounds to create partnerships and out of this frisson, record something that is completely new and unique.

I remember very clearly the first release on Real World Records. It was the summer of 1989 and Martin Scorsese’s film, The Last Temptation of Christ had been released the year prior to much scandal and pearl clutching. The soundtrack had been composed by Peter…