Black Music Congress returns to City St George’s

An evening of reflection, debate and celebration of British Black Music took place at City St George’s, hosted by the Black Music Congress.

The event brought together artists, academics and industry professionals to reflect on how British Black Music has evolved and to discuss its cultural, social and economic impact.

The Black Music Congress is a forum dedicated to championing Black music, fostering networking opportunities and creating pathways into music-industry education. Its chair, Kwaku – a former City St George’s music academic who holds an MA in Music Business and an LLM in Entertainment Law -has contributed to publications including Billboard, writing on hip hop and other genres. He held the first Black Music Congress event at legacy City University in 2002, exploring “Black Music and the Internet.”

This year, the forum returned to the University as part of Black Futures Month, featuring guest speakers covering a wide span of genres and perspectives.

“Black music can be as wide as we want it to be - from classical composers of African descent to reggae, soul, or hip-hop,” said Kwaku.

I always remind people: Black music is the foundation. Almost every modern genre leads there if you trace it back.

The event opened with a presentation by Kwaku on the history of Black music in Britain from 1900 to 1999. Kwaku highlighted influential artists including Welsh-Nigerian singer Shirley Bassey, London-born songwriter and poet Labi Siffre, British musical collective Soul II Soul and UK garage favourites DJ Luck and MC Neat.

Industry figure Darcus Beese (former President of Island Records UK/USA; former A&R Director) offered insights into his career shaping artists such as Amy Winehouse, Dizzee Rascal, Taio Cruz, Jessie J, and Rizzle Kicks. South Londoner and reggae show host Colin Brown spoke about reggae music in the UK and his personal history with the genre. Colin told the audience:

“My parents are from Jamaica. I was born in 1960, and I remember in ’74 when my dad asked me to DJ at one of his parties. I struggled a bit with the music selection and the ‘big people’ helped me. That was my baptism into sound system culture.

“From then on, I went on to organise local gigs and then my first boat trip in about 1982 on the River Thames. If you know anything about back in the day, we had lots of boat trips. That’s where reggae really lived, on the water, on the Thames.”

People say reggae’s dead now. It’s not. It’s still alive and kicking, it’s just had its golden era, like every genre.

“What I would say about reggae in general: it’s more international now. Each country has its reggae bands, its reggae movements. Everywhere you go around the world now, there’s a sound system culture. From a UK perspective, reggae is still on the airwaves - you can find it if you know where to look.”

On the success of the British Black Music event, Kwaku said:

"I’d like to express my sincere thanks to the School of Communication & Creativity, City St George’s Students’ Union, and the Office for Institutional Equity for supporting the return of the Black Music Congress forum to City St George’s. My deepest gratitude also goes to all the outstanding presenters and performers who made the event so memorable. We’ve taken valuable lessons from this event, which sets us up well for BMC’s swansong during British Black Music Month 2026."