Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Aneesa Ahmed

Immersive survey of Black British music to open V&A East museum in 2025

Sir Coxsone Outernational Sound System … reggae and other Caribbean music will be a focus in the new V&A exhibition.
Sir Coxsone Outernational Sound System … reggae and other Caribbean music will be a focus in the new V&A exhibition. Photograph: Jean Bernard Sohiez / urbanimage.tv

From jazz to calypso, dub poetry to UK drill lyrics, drum’n’bass raves to grime freestyles, the brilliance and cross-cultural richness of Black British music will be the focus for the inaugural exhibition at the V&A’s new outpost in east London.

Opening in 2025, The Music Is Black: A British Story will span from 1900 to the present day, celebrating everyone from pioneers such as Winifred Atwell and Janet Kay to today’s generation including Stormzy and Little Simz, and explore how artists from Fleetwood Mac to the Beatles adopted elements of the music created by the UK’s Black community.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.