Welcome to Anjuna Eleven! Over the next few weeks, it is our hope that this site will become a rich and worthy tribute to the music label "Anjunabeats", which has now been in business for almost eleven years! This is all well and good, yet we're sure there are those amongst you that have questions - questions that we shall now endeavour to answer.
1. What is Anjuna Eleven all about?
The architects of the Anjuna Eleven project are people that hold Anjunabeats in high regard for the work that went into its establishment and identity. Over recent months, several people that grew up musically alongside the Anjunabeats label realised that they had a common interest - giving one of the most important labels of the past decade an anniversary celebration that only the fans could give it. Preparations then began towards celebrating the eleventh anniversary of Anjunabeats.
2. Hang on - didn't Anjuna HQ just celebrate TEN Years of Anjunabeats a few months ago?
Yes, but the date made no sense. Before you read on, know that there is no malice behind the words here - these are the thoughts of people who remember things. People who are passionate about Anjuna. People who care.
"10 Years Of Anjunabeats" was released on 17th January 2011 (Source:
http://anjunanews.blogspot.com/2011/01/10-years-of-anjunabeats-mixed-by-above.html), in other words during (financial) Quarter One 2011 (Spring). Assuming that the CD had a few month's worth of planning time, one can surmise that development on it started at some point during Quarter Four 2010 (Winter).
(This was around the same time that Anjunabeats hosted their tenth anniversary party at Ministry Of Sound on 3rd December 2010).
Subtracting ten years from this time frame gives a rough Anjuna start date of Winter 2000. However, there are several sources of information that contradict this date. The first evidence comes from the coversheet included with the promo of Anjuna's second release - Free State "Different Ways":
 |
| ANJ-002 Promo Coversheet |
As you can see, the date listed at the bottom of the promo's coversheet is 2nd October 2000. Since this is Anjuna's second release, Anjuna's start date would have to have been earlier than this . The next evidence comes from the online record retailer Juno. Juno has been around since 1996, and publishes the dates that the records it sells were first available with a reasonable rate of accuracy. Interestingly, they detail Anjunabeats "Volume One" (usually known as ANJ-001) as being released on 15th May 2000:
In the absense of a promo sheet from the ANJ-001 Volume One promo (Discogs only features ANJ-003) this is the most accurate date for ANJ-001's release that is available online. If Juno alone was giving this date then there would be a source of contention, but HTFR also gives a very similar date: 13th May 2000:
These sources suggest that the start of Anjunabeats occurred in May 2000 - the month that the first copies of Anjunabeats "Volume One" were being sold to the public. Considering the evidence above, one can conclude that 'Day One' would have fallen at some point between May 13th and May 15th. While this date may still be off the mark, it is the most accurate that can be arrived at with the information to hand. In any case, at the very least it serves as the anniversary of Anjuna's first release, which is a reason to celebrate whatever your beliefs!
3. So what's the plan?
Well there isn't exactly a master plan. This site was born from the wishes of a group of people that wanted to give something back to a label that influenced their lives in one way or another. This is above and beyond (if you'll excuse the pun) hash tags, capital letters and social media statuses - this is all about respect. A lot of work has gone into the site - both in terms of what you see before you and what is to come, and all of us at the Anjuna Eleven project are very excited to see how it all plays out! Hope you enjoy the ride as well!
