From reggae to grime: how black music became synonymous with a British sound
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In this episode this week, we’re in London to talk about the history of African and Afro-Caribbean music in Britain. Centuries of Black music-making in the country is highlighted at the latest iteration of the world renowned Victoria & Albert Museum, the V&A East, which opened on 18 April in London's neighbourhood of Stratford.
The museum’s first exhibition, titled 'The Music is Black: A British Story', and offers a survey of Black music linked the UK, starting with early drumbeats brought back from Africa and going up to the latest innovations in popular music on the island.
Black British music takes centre stage as London's V&A East opens doors
Over 500 years of cultural history
From Africa to England, via the Caribbean and North America, black music also shows how the contribution of the people of African descent still resonates in the United Kingdom, from reggae to rap and grime, an East-London-born contemporary Black British musical genre that has enabled young people to create a sense of belonging, while connecting to a global audience.
In this episode you hear the director of the museum, Gus Casely-Hayford, about how he imagined a space that would attract visitors from all over the world, including from some of the most popular and multicultural parts of London.
Multitude of music genres
Lovers rock, two-tone, rocksteady, dub, trip hop, garage, drill, dub, ska, drum & bass, jungle, grime... all these music genres emerged in the UK influence by African and Caribbean music after it had travelled to the West Indies and the British Empire in general, then came to the island, especially after WWI and WWII.
But the story began way before then, so, the genres presented in the exhibitions also include classical music, jazz, soul, funk and rock’n’roll.
You can here a longer interview with the head curator of exhibition, Jacqueline Springer, a former music journalist herself turned lecturer and events curator, about how she and her team organised a display that spans centuries of history, up to our days and the latest innovation in music, including the current exchange with African producers and songwriters.
"The stories in Act III are what inspired the title 'The Music is Black: A British Story'. This is the British story," said Springer.
For instance, the sound system culture from Jamaica and reggae came to Coventry and Bristol. "Then that's smoothed out for trip hop, which still has the ingredients of turn-tablism, of singing like lovers rock," Springer adds, "but there's a political undertone, but there's also an emotional interrogation."
African connections
The exhibition also shows how musicians from Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica, Guyana and other former British colonies, found a place to produce their music in Britain, like Sade (born Helen Folasade Adu in 1959 in Ibadan in Nigeria), Seal, the Mad Professor (born in Guyana), or more recently Little Simz, Arlo Parks, Sekpta and Stormzy.
In the episode, we dig into the history of the genres invited outside London, like the Bristol sound, invented in the 1990s, with and around the rapper and producer Tricky, whose family members have roots in Jamaica, Africa and England
Finally, we also go to the city to hear how the producer Tim Norfolk, of the duo The Insects, is releasing a record produced there in 1994 with the late Zimbabwean singer-songwriter Biggie Tembo, leader of the then successful Bhundu Boys, never heard in over 30 years.
Spotlight on Africa is produced by RFI's English language service. Episode edited and mixed by Melissa Chemam and Erwan Rome.
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