The Center for Black Music in Bahia
Brazil – 2011

The International Exhibition of Black Music
Dakar, Senegal – December 2010

Bob Marley, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Fela Kuti, Carlinhos Brown, Ali Farka Touré, Ibrahim Ferrer, Gilberto Gil, Cesaria Evora, Youssou N’Dour, Alpha Blondy, Nina Simone, Mickael Jackson, João Gilberto, Manu Dibango, Salif Keïta, James Brown, Compay Segundo, Miriam Makeba, Aretha Franklin, Pablo Milanez, Ray Charles…

So many names, so many artists, so many heroes have contributed to the amazing artistic adventure of black music – undoubtedly one of the 20th century’s most vibrant and genuine forms of artistic expression. Too often perceived as being confined to the North American continent, the evolution of black music is in fact no less than a global phenomenon.

The “black music” encompasses both contemporary and traditional African, Afro-American, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Brazilian music, as well as the African and American music that emerged from the transatlantic slave trade, colonisation and independence.

The Center for Black Music in Salvador, Bahia, and the International Exhibition of Black Music in Dakar, Senegal, have been designed to honour the epic history of black music, to reinstate this art form to its rightful place in world history, and to forge and strengthen links between Africa and South America, between Senegal and Brazil.

Africa, America, the Caribbean, Europe… the black music of yesterday, today and tomorrow is an integral part of the world’s cultural and historical heritage.