V&A East’s Landmark Exhibition Celebrates 125 Years of Black British Music
V&A East opens with the exhibition Britain has been waiting for and it sounds incredible.
V&A East has opened its first major exhibition, The Music Is Black: A British Story, now showing at V&A East Museum on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The immersive show traces 125 years of Black music in Britain in over 120 tracks from every era, from early 20th-century pioneers to today’s biggest names, exploring its profound influence on British culture and its global reach.
Spanning genres from jazz and reggae to 2 Tone, drum & bass, trip hop, UK garage and grime, the exhibition takes visitors through carnival culture, club nights, recording studios, record shops and festivals. Drawing on the BBC’s archive, it combines rare artefacts, large-scale installations, immersive audiovisual displays and personal items from artists including Sade, Massive Attack, Goldie and Soul II Soul, alongside contemporary figures such as Little Simz, Jorja Smith and Ezra Collective.
Curator Jacqueline Springer said the exhibition examines music’s role as a tool of unification, protest and joy against the backdrop of British colonial history and shifting social landscapes. V&A East Director Gus Casely-Hayford described it as a long-overdue look at the creation of Britain’s national sound.
The exhibition anchors a wider season of programming across East Bank, in partnership with the BBC, Sadler’s Wells East, UAL’s London College of Fashion and UCL East, featuring live performances, talks and displays throughout the year.
More information at vam.ac.uk
Credits:
Images courtesy of V&A East
Words:Sufiya McNulty @ellasufiya
