Golden River Music

Established in 1994, Golden River Music aimed in these first years to publish new educational repertoire.

Golden River Music was found in the former living room of managing director Rik Vercruysse in a small town near the river ‘Leie’. The whole area around this river was historically known for its produce of flax since the 13th century.  This flax was thrown in the river: a technique cold ‘retting’, used to facilitate separation of the fibre from the stem, so the flax could be used for the production of linen fabrics. Anyway, all this flax in the river gave it a golden shine, which is why this river was nicknamed ‘Golden River’. Although flax is produced in a more modern way for already quite a long time, the ‘Leie’ has since that time been known as ‘the Golden River’ and this is the name we decided to give to our publishing house.

Since that time, our company has moved a few times, first to Mechelen close to yet another river, and later on to the current building in Dendermonde: an old farmhouse with enough room for the family, but also with a separate building for the growing publishing company.  The days we worked from the living room are luckily long gone, but we still cherish this little history from the early days of Golden River Music.