A massive exhibition on Black British music is coming to ...

Normski, She Rockers (London RapDance Crew) (1988)

Photo by Normski, courtesy of the V&A, LondonJanuary 28, 2026Music / NewsMusic / NewsA massive exhibition on Black British music is coming to V&A East

The Music is Black: A British Story will trace the vast history of Black British music from its colonial origins, through the emergence of genres like UK garage and grime, right up to the present day

ShareLink copied ✔️January 28, 2026January 28, 2026TextDazed DigitalThe Music is Black: A British Story at V&A East Museum Eddie Otchere, Kemistry and Storm (The Diptych) (1995)

Eddie Otchere, Kemistry and Storm (The Diptych) (1995)

Laura ‘Hyperfrank’ Brosnan, Showered with joy (2016)

Skepta and Jammer, Run the Road, Fabric (2005)

Daniel Newman, Stage wear customised and worn by DJ Paulette

Gallery / 20 images

From Brit funk to jungle, trip hop to UK garage, Black music has played a defining role in modern British culture – and, by extension, modern British life – so it seems appropriate that V&A East’s very first exhibition will trace the story all the way back to its roots. Titled The Music is Black: A British Story, the museum’s inaugural exhibition is set to open in April 2026, with an all-encompassing approach to the history of Black British music genres.

Ranging from 1900 to today, The Music is Black tells the story of contemporary icons like Jme, Skepta, and Little Simz, plus pioneering figures from decades gone by. To do this, it’s brought together over 200 objects – including 60 newly acquired by the museum – including instruments, clothing, and personal belongings. Visitors will be able to see, for example, the Super Nintendo that Jme used for his earliest musical experiments in the 90s, Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar, costumes from Top Boy, and Little Simz’s Commes des Garçons look from her 2023 Dazed cover shoot.

Elsewhere, there are newly acquired photos of Skepta, Mis-Teeq, and the drum and bass duo Kemistry and Storm, clothing worn by Seal on the cover of his eponymous debut album in 1991, and a spiked headpiece worn by Skunk Anansie’s Skin, the first Black woman to headline Glastonbury. These will feature alongside artworks by the likes of Sonia Boyce, as well as specially-commissioned new works by Frank Bowling and LR Vandy.

Eddie Otchere, Kemistry and Storm (The Diptych) (1995)Photo by Eddie Otchere

Going further back, the exhibition begins with an exploration of the origins of Black music, tracing it to Africa via years of colonialism and slavery. From there, it moves through the 1900s to chart the rise of Black music against the backdrop of an emerging modern Britain, through to the birth of uniquely Black British genres like lovers rock and grime. And finally, we end up in modern day, where contemporary Black British music is represented across pop, dubstep, drill, gospel, jazz and afrobeats (plus a bunch of future genres that don’t even have a name yet).

“Music reflects and feeds emotions,” says Jacqueline Springer, curator of The Music Is Black: a British Story. “It inspires, comforts, offends and entertains. It also awakens memory and punctuates our present. This exhibition provides another dimension in our celebration and understanding of how social and political histories are responded to by people and their cultures to provide the art we all enjoy.”

The Music is Black: A British Story opens at V&A East Museum on April 18, 2026. Tickets are on sale now.

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