Agualoca Records was conceived and founded in 2012 by musician and producer Davide Mastropaolo, as a home for music that draws its creative force from eclecticism and singularity. A crossroads of sounds that seem impossible to reconcile, and that find an unexpected harmony in what distant cultures share.

The idea was born in Madrid, during an Erasmus year in Lavapiés: nights spent wandering through the clubs and bars where live music was played, ears wide open at Suristán.

Back from Madrid, working in a record shop while playing professionally, Davide noticed that roughly one record in ten sold lay outside the mainstream, and that the musicians making them rarely had anyone at their side. Agualoca was born for that one in ten.

It took thirteen years for that idea to become real. Agualoca Records was born at a café table in Plaça del Rei, in Barcelona, brainstorming with two friends: Sergio Grispello, photographer and DJ selector, and Sara D’Ajello Caracciolo, tango dancer and teacher. The first step was to give new life to Sulle rive del tango, the compilation series of the collective of the same name, which Sara and Sergio had founded together with other lifelong friends.

Blossoming out from the fertile soil of the Neapolitan independent scene but always looking towards faraway latitudes, Agualoca lets itself be shaped by any sound that speaks of the restlessness of the present: indie rock and chamber music, jazzy avant-pop, psychedelia, Mediterranean folk, Balkan brass, tango and the traditions of southern Italy.

In its first six years, some 15,000 CDs travelled across Europe, carrying new and unknown voices at a time when records were said to be disappearing. After a quieter season, Agualoca is moving again, with the same curiosity as always: seeking out music that deserves to be heard, and helping it travel far beyond Italy.