Over the weekend I went and visited the British Library, where there’s a fantastic exhibition on at the moment which captures 500 years of black British music. It goes right back, to the earliest forms of classical music. Then takes you up right through the 20th century, from the arrival of jazz, and right up to the era where I was born and my formative teenage years in the 1970s, when there was an explosion of black British reggae and all sorts of different types of music and up to the present day with hip hop, jungle and grime. It’s a really great exhibition and I spent over an hour and a half there, but I could have spent longer. It’s just fascinating, the exhibits that are there, the old record sleeves, the photos, the videos, the recordings. Anybody who’s got any interest in music should check it out.
And it’s very political as well. The whole exhibition is about how black people have influenced popular music and how campaigns have been set up to counter racism. From my own experience growing up in the 1970s, it was a really difficult time where you had groups like the National Front out on the streets and they were pushing the Liberals into third place in many elections. One response at the time brought black and white people together was music and things like Rock Against Racism and the anti-Nazi League carnivals in the 70s. For me personally, these were really formative experiences and politicised me. And from those days I have taken forward that message all through my adult life – it’s not enough just to be anti-racist in what you say, you need to actually do something about it. You can’t just talk about it, it’s important to organise events that actually bring people together and stop the type of racism that people like Nigel Farage are pushing during this election campaign. So I’d definitely recommend this exhibition, go as soon as you can!
Tickets are £15 – a bit pricey but worth it!
totallyrewired 