Beyond the Bassline:

Black musicians have found themselves at the heart of British culture for some 500 years and, in the course of the last 50, have not only transformed the creative landscape but now define music in the UK with acts like Stormzy and Ezra Collective.

This book accompanies the first ever large-scale exhibition on Black music in the UK and explores the people, spaces and messages that formed part of this central British soundtrack. We travel from jazz to calypso, from reggae and punk to soul and rap and onwards through Garage, Grime and Afrobeats. More than just music, the sounds, style, innovations and industries that have emerged from African and Caribbean visionaries in Britain are surveyed and celebrated.

We meet legends, innovators and pioneers including Ignatius Sancho, Billy Walters, Samuel Coleridge Taylor and Ken ‘Snakehips’ Johnson. The book seeks out the ground-breaking careers of Shirley Bassey and on through Pauline Black and Little Simz. The exhibition has uncovered new street photography, as well as pivotal instruments, outfits, notebooks, zines, flyers and, of course, records, all of which are presented in this landmark book.