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Lucky Records seems to have been the name of some four different record
labels, one in the 1930s, one in the 1960s - 1970s, and two in the 1990s.
Lucky Records of the 1930s was a record label based in Tokyo, Japan which
specialized in issuing United States popular music to the Japanese audience.
Lucky was founded in November of 1934 by the Lucky Record Co. Tokyo,
owned by the Saito Shoten cotton importing business. They made arrangements
with the American Record Corporation to issue material from ARC labels in
Japan. Their most successful import was the recordings of Bing Crosby. Much
of the other Lucky Records issues are surprisingly eclectic, including
recordings by Eddie Condon, Red Allen, Cab Calloway, and Duke Ellington, but
also rural southern blues records otherwise un-issued outside of the United
States in the era (and in the US mostly restricted to labels catering to the
African American market). Lucky issues also included accordion bands,
Hawaiian music, Calypso music, and Argentine tangos. It is unclear if all of
this material was specifically selected, or if some was simply chosen at
random by someone at either Lucky or ARC.
Lucky was the victim of the Tojo government's nationalistic campaign
against foreign cultural influence, and closed down by early 1940.
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