Our events programme to coincide with the Beyond the Bassline exhibition continues into June. Many tickets include entry to the exhibition after hours. Here’s what you can book for this month: Sound System Culture Day Sunday 2 June, 12:30 – 18:00 Piazza, British Library Join us for an afternoon at…

Guest blog by Andrew O. Krastins ‘Now he is dead. And the most bitter regret that, of so much artistic value, there remains only a memory, such being, unfortunately, the fate of the great performers: to survive only by the virtue of tradition, also fallacious and dying.’ – Supplemento al…

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…