_{Monday 28/10/2024}

What goes Beyond the Bassline? This podcast episode presents a unique conversation between Mykaell Riley and Lizzie Bowes, hosted by Verónica Posada Álvarez. 

Earlier this year, the first major exhibition of Black-British music, life, spirit and culture opened at the British Library in London. Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music, was the outcome of two years of collaboration between the British Library and Mykaell Riley, Reader, CREAM member, and director of the University of Westminster’s Black Music Research Unit. What is Black British music? How can we gain a fuller understanding of the histories and experiences that have birthed a thriving music culture reaching back hundreds of years, and one that is such an essential part of British national identity? 

In this episode of CREAM podcast, we invite Lizzie Bowes, Research Associate of the Black music research unit, to talk with Mykaell about his co-curation of the exhibition and the ideas behind it. Together they discuss the challenges of putting together a large-scale exhibition while negotiating ‘official race discourses’ and working with funding institutions. By taking us through the exhibition, they tell the story of how artefacts were gathered from the community and explore how recognising the archives of Black lives in the UK is important to reclaiming a sense of belonging for Black communities in Britain today. 

__ 

Dr Mykaell Riley is Reader/Associate Professor, Director of The Black Music Research Unit (BMRU) and Principal Investigator for the Bass Culture project at the University of Westminster. He is co-curator of the exhibition Beyond the Bassline, 500 Years of Black British Music, exhibited at the British Library, London, in 2024. 

Lizzie Bowes, CREAM Research Associate. Is a PhD student at the University of Bristol, working across the Departments of Music, English, and affiliated with the University’s Centre for Black Humanities. 

This podcast was hosted, recorded and edited by CREAM PhD alumna Dr Verónica Posada Álvarez and produced by Lucy Rogers (Research Associate, CREAM). This conversation was recorded in London on 26 August 2024.