Topic - Biography

Biography - Topic

UK

Topic Records, with a small amount of debate, was created in 1939. It was the means by which "The Workers Music Association" was able to issue records which were linked to their activities of singing in choirs and promoting a friendship and positive attitude towards Russia and China.

There were many members who were on the board and composers and performers who were invited to participate and offer their services to the WMA. Amongst these were Paul Robeson, Pete Seeger, Ewan MacColl, A. L. "Bert" Lloyd, composer John Ireland, Will Sahnow, composer Dimitri Shostakovitch, Matias Seiber, Ernst H Meyer, Aubrey Bowman, Michael Redgrave and many others. Perhaps the most important member of the committee at the inception of the association in 1936 was the English composer, Alan Bush, who was very much the leader of the organisation for many years.

This leaning towards the communist countries of the eastern-bloc was shown with the choice of recorded output; records such as the Chinese National Anthem and reissues of Russian records amongst the records celebrating anti-Nazi feelings and support for the Republicans in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

Only a small percentage of the records issued by 1958 had been from the UK or American folk scene but the last few were all linked to it. Peggy Seeger, Bert Lloyd, The Weavers, Ewan MacColl, Rambling Jack Elliott were the stars of the last of the 78s and with the creation of the "microgroove" records a new era began for Topic Records, which continues to this day.

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