The Black Music in the Center

From the New-Orleans to Manhattan's clubs where the jazz odyssee started. From Kingston's suburbs where appeared ska and reggae, til wastelands from the Bronx which brought to light the hip-hop. From calypso chant of Trinidad to the schools of samba in Rio. The voice, the blast, rythms, the "soul" of millions of slaves deported since the african coasts until the New World have generated a constellation of increible richness of musics. This saga, continued through the five continents, inside pain or ecstasy, has build the mondial popular culture and produced one of the biggest artistic adventures of the XXth century : the Black Music.

The Center for Black Music, the first museum of its kind, has been designed to honour the incredible evolution of the worldwide black musical odyssey. The Center is located in Salvador, capital of the state of Bahia, Brazil, and global crossroads of black music. Salvador’s historical and geographical connections to the African coastline have made it one of the most important points of convergence for European, African and Amerindian cultures. It counts about 80% of blacks and mixed people and, out of Africa, it is the city concentrating the most important black community (followed by New-York). For this reason, Salvador has been called the "Black Roma".

The Center for Black Music will use the latest technological innovations, featuring unique interactive installations that engage and stimulate all the senses. Located inside the Museu du Ritmo, the Center for Black Music will contain both permanent and temporary exhibition spaces, an online resource Center, cafés and restaurants, as well as venues for concerts and conferences alike…

The Center for Black Music is a Franco-Brazilian project devised and executed by Mondomix, produced by Carlinhos Brown (Pracatum/Janela do Mundo) and Mondomix with the support of the State Government of Bahia, the Brazilian Ministry of Culture and Culturesfrance. The conception and the Black Music center's commissionership are carying on by Mondomix with the cooperation of an international committee of experts. The scenography is signed by the architect Pedro Mendes da Rocha, author of the architectural project of the Portuguese Tongue in São Paulo.

Initiated on the occasion of the Year of France in Brazil, the Center for Black Music has been inaugurated on the 12th of November 2009 for an exhibition of temporary showcase. The developing project has been introduced thanks to multi-medias installations.


Marc Benaïche