The V&A East has opened “The Music is Black,” an exhibition that traces the development of eight Black British musical genres from lovers rock and Brit funk to jungle, drum and bass, UK garage and grime, rooting them in centuries of diasporic history and sound-system culture.
According to observer.com, the showcase, which opened in April at the museum’s East London site, presents artifacts, soundscapes and archival material charting Black musical creativity in Britain from the 1400s through to the present.
Curator Jacqueline Springer, a former music journalist and academic, frames the show around mass media’s emergence in 1900 while beginning the narrative with earlier contact between Europe and West Africa to highlight long-term historical context, including documents such as a 1672 legal paper authorising the trade in enslaved people.
Visitors receive over-ear headsets that play different audio in separate gallery zones, allowing them to linger on selected pieces or move through neutral spaces. The immersive layout links influences such as Jamaican sound-system culture, jazz and West African traditions to the eight genres on display; lovers rock, Brit funk, 2 Tone, trip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, U.K. garage and grime and shows their cultural and social interconnections.
Notable objects include a graffiti-covered piano played by 1950s pianist Winifred Atwell, Dame Shirley Bassey’s gown from a 2013 Oscars performance, and Stormzy’s Union Jack vest from his 2019 Glastonbury headline set. The show also highlights artistic lineages, for example connecting Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin’s arrival in Britain to the later 2 Tone ska movement.
The exhibition is accompanied by a book by Springer, an extensive programme of talks and live events across the museum and the adjacent East Bank, and a partnership with the BBC to extend educational material to schools via BBC Bitesize and related documentaries on iPlayer. V&A East artistic director Gus Casely-Hayford said the show aims to reshape perceptions of British music both domestically and internationally, noting research that Black music generated 80% of the UK industry’s revenue over the past 30 years.
“The Music is Black” is on display at V&A East, 107 Carpenters Rd., London, E20 2AR, through January 3, 2027.
•Featured image: The landmark exhibition traces the emergence of eight genres of Black British music—from lovers rock and Brit funk to grime—while rooting them in centuries of diasporic history. Photo: © David Parry/V&A