Ahead of the official opening on 18th April, Afropean.com attended an exclusive viewing of the V&A East Museum and its landmark exhibition featuring our very own Johny Pitts’ Girls at Notting Hill Carnival (2010). Chanelle Patterson shares her thoughts on this much anticipated cultural event.

Before stepping in, I’m compelled by Thomas J. Price’s A Place Beyond sculpture standing proudly outside the structure. Gus Casely-Hayford, V&A East Director, later shares that the statue calls upon younger generations to understand the V&A East as their ‘platform to craft their own destiny’. He says in the introductory talk that he visited 100 schools in preparation for the museum’s curatorial development and, in conversation with me, reflects that he feels humbled by how ‘younger generations are ready to take control’ and find ‘solutions beyond our imagination’.  

Walking through the museum, the tranquil, airy interior clearly signifies a new era where art makers of the future could seek to redefine creative boundaries. This feeling carries into the upper ground floor, where works from Althea McNish, the first African-Caribbean designer to gain international recognition in the fashion industry, are displayed boldly amongst others in the Why We Make galleries. 

Located on the second floor, The Music Is Black: A British Story is divided into four historical and cultural acts – a comprehensive rewind of the last 125 years in Black culture. As visitors move through the space, guided by immersive sound upon arrival, they are instantly transported into a tunnel of the past, beginning with the origins of our resilience as African descendants of the diaspora. 

Act 1: Origins of Sound 

The sound experience begins with a delicate instrumental to mark the foundations of Black music beyond the scope of British colonial and imperialist forces. Ben Enwonwu’s The Drummer (1978), the first display encountered in the room, serves as a raw and provocative depiction of Black musical creativity pre-colonialism. Early musical compositions were born primarily of human attempts to replicate and spiritually connect with the sounds of nature.  

‘Music is a lot like air’, says Jacqueline Springer, curator of the exhibition. 

From there, I move through to the early enslavement period, viewing King Charles II’s Charter of Royal Adventure of England dated 1663, which documents the initial legalisation of the brutal slave trade. Coupled with this display are Haitian bank stamps which represent the rise of the Vodou resistance against colonial forces. Springer’s intention with this section of the exhibition was to, in her words, showcase how ‘music speaks within the bodies of [the] colonies’ and must be understood as a survival tool against the traumas our enslaved ancestors suffered.

Exemplifying how enslavers attempted to weaponise religion as a pacifying tool, the Slave Bible is a central artefact on show that reveals the institutional suppression of long-standing pre-colonial understandings of African spirituality, including early African Christianities, for the selfish interests of the British Empire. The battle between Vodou culture and the pressures of Europeanised Christianity is explored in depth, with Hector Hyppolite’s 1946 painting titled Paradis et Enfer (Paradise or Hell), concentrating on the role of a revolutionary rebellion that would reverberate across the African diaspora over the next few decades.

Act 2: ‘Great’ Britain

In Act 2, the focus on Black music and its journey to Britain shifts towards the industrialisation of empire, and the suffering Africans faced in its destructive path to wealth. 

There’s no mistaking the exhibition’s message to the public: Black British culture existed long before the false promise of the ‘New Commonwealth’ and the Windrush migration. It traces the rapid flow of music and entertainment in Britain back to the order for Africans to fight for Britain during the First and Second World Wars, made tangible by the personal diary of Arthur Roberts from 1921. Only 20 years of age, Roberts was born during the early migration of African-Caribbeans during the First World War and was enlisted to fight in the Battle of Passchendaele, which is reported to have claimed the lives of over 200,000 people. Roberts’ diary documents the private experiences of a young man reconciling the trauma of war with the unfair expectation to serve a country systemically built against him. It is stories like Roberts’ which form the foundation for Black British music as a rightful escape from the imperialist violence our parents and grandparents were subject to at this time.

By the post-war era, the early Jazz movement was already reshaping the soundscape of Britain into a total musical revolution. On display, visitors can follow a memory lane through swing, blues, the folk revival, soul, and rock ‘n’ roll in a time warp celebrating the fluidity of African and Caribbean culture across Britain’s streets. The story then moves on to ‘Jamaica’s musical gift to the world’, reggae music, a genre which underpins seven of eight genres presented at the exhibition, and Claudia Jones’ creation of Notting Hill Carnival.

Act 3: The Boldness of Black British Music

As the penultimate act of the exhibition, it is by no means the least. Taking centre stage, Act 3 pays tribute to home-grown Black British music, including the first-ever reggae subgenre outside of Jamaica, Lover’s Rock. Black British youth found refuge in the gentle rhythms and soft romantic vocals from the likes of Janet Kay in a whirlwind of political disorder caused by the ‘Sus’ (suspected person) laws of the late 1970s and ’80s.

Across the United Kingdom, the rise of sound system culture also meant younger generations could take charge of independent musical expression despite the continued shutdowns of predominantly Black clubs up and down the country. In response to the alienation of Black British culture from club scenes, the exhibition documents how we built nightlife from the ground up with all-night sessions hosted in abandoned warehouses, youth halls and community centres later evolving into a playground for Jungle, Drum & Bass, Garage and Grime to thrive.

Act 4: Challenges & The British Sound Of… 

Finally, Act 4 confronts the modern exclusion of Black British performers. Starting with our presence in opera and the classical arts. Notable objects range from Shirley J. Thompson’s conducting baton to Joan Armatrading’s original chord book. Additionally, a full-scale magazine wall honours the emergence of alternative publications such as Echoes, formed to support up-and-coming Black artists and combat the erasure of emerging figures in mainstream media.

Turning the last corner, visitors can experience our global influence on British sound with ensembles like Little Simz’ Comme des Garçons outfit and Stormzy’s renowned Banksy stab vest protesting the ongoing pressures on Black youth. Together, these works close out the act with a celebration of the unique identity British-born Black music has carved for itself globally. It allows for an emotional return to the beginning of the show and the ever-present ancestral history that nurtures every song.

The Music Is Black is a one-of-a-kind exhibition proving just how foundational Black British culture is to Britain’s creative world.

Listen to The Music Is Black: A British Story‘s audio soundscape playlist here