V&A East opens with landmark Black British music exhibition The Music is Black

The V&A East's inaugural exhibition, The Music is Black, opens this weekend as a landmark survey of Black British music curated by Jacqueline Springer. Spanning from early African drumbeats to contemporary pop and drill, the show features 200 items including a drum sculpture by Ben Enwonwu and a piece by Turner prize nominee Rene Matić. Gus Casely-Hayford, V&A East's artistic director, positions the exhibition as part of a push to reposition Black British sound as central to UK cultural history. The exhibition follows earlier shows like the British Library's Beyond the Bassline and the Barbican's survey of Black London's musical landscape. Outside the museum, Black acts dominated recent Brit awards and research claims Black music generated 80% of UK industry revenue over 30 years. The £135m building in Stratford, designed by O'Donnell & Tuomey, has drawn mixed reviews from critics. Economic concerns persist as campaign groups have gathered over 21,000 signatures calling for living wages for all museum workers. Hundreds queued for the museum's official launches this week, with DJ Karen Gabay noting the exhibition's focus on overlooked pioneers like Hewan Clarke.