The music that changed Britain
Daniel Nelson
Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music is on show at the British Library. Wait: make that 523 years, because John Blanke, a royal trumpeter in the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII, probably arrived in 1501.
So it’s not surprising that there are more than 200 exhibits in the exhibition.
They include recordings, photographs, clothes, carnival costumes, Stormzy’s Glastonbury set list, films, and musical instruments.
Classical, Grime, jazz - you name it, it’s represented here, and along the way there’s plenty of facts for pub quizzes or ITV’s Black panel show Sorry, I Didn’t Know. For example, who was the first Black man to conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra? (Rudolph Dunbar). In which city did afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti begin his musical career? (London). Who is the only female instrumentalist ever to top the UK charts? (Winifred Atwell).
Mykaeli Riley, founder member of the British roots reggae band Steel Pulse, says the music celebrated in the exhibition “is a living history, echoing through the centuries”. That makes the exhibition important and interesting, all the more because it’s British political and cultural history as well as Black history, “an essential facet of British cultural heritage”.
Protest and the battles for rights and against racism are, of course, vital themes. Creativity is another.
There’s inevitable incongruity between the expressive vibrancy of music and the intellectual studiousness of a leading national institution. Even a crazily flashing jukebox, headphonesfull of music, glitzy singers’ dresses and a room in which you can lie on the floor and watch a film on the ceiling can’t bridge the education—entertainment gap.
But this is a tremendous resource, backed up by a programme of related in-person and events and smaller displays at 30 local libraries.
A lot of thought and effort has gone into this chronicle of a half-millennium musical journey. And there’s more to come: “Who knows what’s next? We are Black and British and power is in our hands.”
Beyond the Bassline, £10-£15, under-11s free, is at the British Library, Euston Road, NW1 until 26 August. Info: Exhibition
Events
Artists: Soul II Soul
Artists: Ezra Collective