There’s an exciting programme of events happening this month at the British Library St Pancras site to accompany the launch of the Beyond the Bassline exhibition, many tickets include entry to the exhibition after hours. Here’s a list of what’s going on in May: Touching Bass x Jamz Supernova +…

The Specials live in Montreux 1980 © Adrian Boot / urbanimage.tv (Scroll for exhibition record list) Two-tone merged the sounds of Jamaican and UK popular music, most importantly Jamaican ska and punk rock. The genre’s name and history is directly linked to the 2 Tone label. 2 Tone Records was…

Janet Kay © Tim Barrow / urbanimage.tv (Scroll for exhibition record list) Following the tradition of Jamaican genres like roots reggae, lovers’ rock was introduced to its audiences by UK sound systems. Its mix of reggae sounds with elements of pop and Black music genres from across the Atlantic, such…

Aswad in Brixton 1981 © Adrian Boot / urbanimage.tv (Scroll for exhibition record list) Ska and reggae groups started to emerge within the UK in the late 1960s, not long after reggae surfaced in Jamaica. Bands such as Symarip, the Cimarons and Greyhound were signed to labels like Trojan Records….

This Friday sees the opening of the British Library’s new exhibition ‘Beyond the Bassline’. Charting 500 years of history, it’s the first major exhibition about Black music in Britain. The exhibition presents over 200 exhibits, including original records and nostalgic film footage from the sound and vision archive, charting everything…