A Scottish company; but I suppose you'd guessed that from the Scottish flag on the first scan. Dara started out as Pan-Audio (q.v.), becoming Dara after a name-change in February 1976 - the name 'Pan-Audio' was retained by the holding company. It was part-owned by Ronnie Browne and Roy Williamson, who together made up Folk duo The Corries. It operated until at least 1988, and, unsurprisingly, it seems to have concentrated on Scottish Folk material, both new and traditional. Singles, EPs and albums alike seem originally to have shared a 000 numerical series, with singles prefixed 'SPA', EPs 'EPA', and albums 'PA' or 'MPA', but the practice appears to have been abandoned late on. The Corries' single shown above, 'Flower Of Scotland' (SPA-003) was originally issued on Pan-Audio with the same catalogue number, in 1974. Several other records can be found on both labels with the same catalogue numbers. The Corries had another single out on Dara, 'Scotland Will Flourish' b/w 'Glencoe' (SPA-029), in 1978. There was another Dara label, but as it came from Eire and didn't get going until the '80s it doesn't qualify for this site. The discography below lists the few Dara 7" singles I have been able to trace: many of the missing numbers belonged to albums. Thanks to Nicholas Hough for the second scan, and to Stephen Small for discographical input.
Copyright 2007 Robert Lyons.