From Microsoft's announcement:

Fifty albums spanning nearly eight decades of South African music will be available for a la carte and Zune Pass subscription downloads on Zune Marketplace beginning today.

“As a longtime fan of world music and the Gallo label in particular, it’s impossible for me to overstate what an exciting development this is for the world music community,” said Jon Kertzer, senior music programmer at Microsoft and the host of a popular world music radio program on Seattle-based KEXP-FM. “This is an amazing introduction to South African music, and we look forward to making more of the Gallo catalog available in the future.”

The Gallo catalog represents the entire recorded history of South African music from the 1930s to today. From well-known songs such as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” which was originally released in South Africa before becoming an international hit, to Grammy-winning artists such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the Gallo catalog encompasses a broad range of genres and sounds. Although the catalog is dominated by traditional South African hooks, Gallo sees a lot of American influence in its sound and believes it brings a different perspective to the world music genre.

“It is with great pleasure that Gallo Music Group has partnered with an online innovator like Microsoft to share the best of South African heritage and make nearly 80 years of Gallo music available to U.S. consumers,” said Ivor Haarburger, CEO of Gallo Music Group. “We’re excited to bring the best of artists such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Lucky Dube and Simphiwe Dana to American music fans as we transform Gallo from a traditional record label into a company that delivers rich content to multiple platforms in a variety of ways.”

Read the full announcement

Visit www.gallo.co.za

Gallo place on Zune.net  

[via ZuneInsider ]