Luaka Bop is a New York–based record label founded by musician David Byrne, former lead singer and guitarist for the art rock–new wave band Talking Heads.

[2] Luaka Bop has released full-length albums, EPs, and singles from artists such as Alice Coltrane, William Onyeabor, and Floating Points, as well as compilations covering a wide range of musical movements and styles.

[11][12] The label has been highlighted for its “singular ability to (re)discover, celebrate, and legitimize the otherwise low-profile work of some of the world’s more eccentric musical figures.”[1] Byrne took the phrase "Luaka Bop" from the inner packaging of a specialty tea which is sold in England.

According to Byrne: The logo, whose use is granted through an agreement that is subject to certain conditions, is a rather obscure Masonic symbol linked at various times to the Trinity of the Illuminati and to the Egyptian Knights of Templar.

The Adventures in Afropea series signaled a slight shift, as the music here is grouped by a broad stylistic criterion (a fusion of African and European influences) as opposed to a purely geographic one.

The Afro-Peruvian Classics series continued the label’s shift towards more stylistically specific compilation albums, focusing on a single subgroup of Peruvian music.

World Psychedelic Classics 3 helped “inspire an industrious coterie of crate diggers and lead to an explosion of ‘70s funk from Nigeria and Ghana”, with other labels crediting it with influencing the look and sound of their later releases.