Soul, hip hop and UK garage - music - British Council

Skye from Morcheeba onstage in Beijing. Credit: Michelle Dong, British Council China.

	SOUL, HIP HOP AND UK GARAGE

Urban music in the UK has never been so vibrant. While UK Garage, the sassy and original blend of drum & bass, R’n’B and rap, has made a tremendous commercial impact in the last few years, other genres on the British club scene such as hip hop and soul have yielded artists of undeniable quality. All of the aforementioned idioms have a distinct homegrown identity that has been decisively shaped by sound system culture as well as African-American musical traditions. Jamaican vocabulary and speech rhythms are increasingly permeating mainstream British society and their resonance is perhaps no more apparent than in the urban music that is being produced by Britons of all cultural backgrounds.

Kevin Le Gendre, Music journalist and broadcaster (Echoes magazine and BBC radio)

Skye from Morcheeba onstage in Beijing. Credit: Michelle Dong, British Council China.

Music



		Broadcast and New Media


		Classical music


		Soul, hip hop and UK garage


		Electronic and club-based music


		Jazz


		Opera, Music Theatre & Vocal


		Alternative (Guitar-based)


		Roots


		Traditional and Folk Music


		Workshops and residencies

What does the British Council do in this area?

The soul, R‘n’B, hip hop and UK garage scenes from the UK are producing some excellent artists who can hold their own on the world stage. Hip hop has proved itself to be a truly universal language, manifesting itself in many different ways across the globe and, as a strong UK hip hop scene is emerging, British artists are travelling all over the globe.

Our work in these genres covers many areas, from the showcase of hip hop artists such as Blak Twang in Kenya and Tanzania at our WaPi events to IG Culture and Ny's collaborative work with musicians from across Africa as part of the Bring the Noise project.