Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music opens at the British Library

Beyond the Bassline is divided into different spaces that form a loose chronology of 500 years of Black music in Britain, from The Ocean (1500s-1870s) through to On Stage (1880s-1960s), The Frontlines (1950s-1980s), In the Record Shop (1960s-1980s) and Cyberspace (1990s-2020s). Each section is “interrupted” by new soundscapes, artworks and films created by artists and community collectives from around the UK.  

Foregrounding voices from Cardiff, Birmingham, London and Leeds, the new “interruptions” comprise: 

The exhibition culminates withiwoyi: within the echo (2024), a new, five-channel 16-minute film and sound installation exploring the Black radical imagination and the potential of Black British music to manifest reparative futures. Directed and created by Tayo Rapoport and Rohan Ayinde in collaboration with Errol and Alex Rita's Touching Bass, the film is produced by NOIR and has an original score made by Melo-Zed.

Dr Aleema Gray, lead curator of Beyond the Bassline at the British Library, said:‘The exhibition representsa timely opportunity to broaden our understanding of Black British music and situate it within a historical conversation. It brings together the people, places and moments that have formed part of the British soundtrack and an expansive cultural industry that transformed Britain. It's the continuation of an important conversation about African and Caribbean musical heritage in Britain. We want to take visitors on a musical journey through time and space to explore and appreciate a wider history of African and Caribbean presence, culture and creativity in the UK.’

Associate Professor Mykaell Riley, a founder member of the British roots reggae band Steel Pulse, Director of The Black Music Research Unit at the University of Westminster and guest curator of Beyond the Bassline, said: ‘The music celebrated in this exhibition is more than a collection of sounds. It is a living history, echoing through the centuries. It is an ode to the spirit of community and the radical force of alternative Black British music genres such as jungle, drum and bass, grime and Afrobeats. We hope the exhibition electrifies, provokes, and, most importantly, energises and inspires continued exploration into this essential facet of British cultural heritage.’ 

Beyond the Bassline at the British Library is a partnership with the Black Music Research Unit, part of the University of Westminster’s Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media. The exhibition has been curated by Dr Aleema Gray at the British Library in collaboration with Mykaell Riley at the University of Westminster and follows a three-year partnership to research, foreground and reposition six centuries of African musical contributions to the UK.  

There will be Beyond the Bassline panel displays and events at over 30 local libraries across the UK, arranged through the Living Knowledge Network, with each library’s collection, regional connections and local music scene at the core, to help tell a national story about Black music in Britain.  

Liz Johnson Artur – Black Balloon Archive display (until 1 September 2024) 
A selection of works from photographer Liz Johnson Artur’s Black Balloon Archive, which is described as an ode to the everyday practices of living in the African diaspora, are on display in the free Entrance Hall Gallery until 1 September 2024.Johnson Artur has personally selected 11works to explore representations of pleasure, intimacy, beauty and love.