Gala International

Gala International was a mail-order record company and operated in both Sweden and Finland. They seemed to share the same repertoire that other similar labels such as Populaire Platen Kring/PPK in the Netherlands, Pop Parade/Concert Hall in the UK, Gala Des Variétés/Vargal/Concert Hall in France, Grammoclub Ex Libris/Vargal in Switzerland, Music Hall Internazionale in Italy and also MMS and Jazztone. The discs for all of these companies were pressed mainly in Germany and Holland and were 7" 33rpm microgroove. Labels bore code letters P (Germany), AH (Artone,Holland??) and the mysterious TU which may help in source identification. German pressed items are marked "P" and generally have a larger label (10 cms dia).and German matrix markings are usually machine printed. In Sweden, "Gala Klubben" imported pressings and provided their own packaging, which unfortunately didn't always follow the exact wording on the label. In Finland The Music Hall Club also imported the same discs and printed their own packaging. Sweden used SPK catalogue numbers while Finland used FPK. Populaire Platen Kring in Holland sometimes had an identical release and their catalogue number with a PPK prefix could also be found in the deadwax meaning that the pressers used the same stampers.