City's African American music legacy showcased

A student is showcasing the various African American musicians who visited a city in the 1960s.

Lily Usher-Unsworth, from Whitley Bay, has designed a small exhibition for City Library in Newcastle, which is running until 28 April.

Based on research of the library's archives, it highlights the major artists who visited Newcastle between 1957 and 1970 such as Jimi Hendrix, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington.

"It's a celebration not only of incredible music but also of the cultural exchange that happened in Newcastle during the civil rights era," she said.

The exhibition is part of the 22-year-old's final year project at Northumbria University.

Ms Usher-Unsworth had only asked the library to host it for an afternoon so that it could be marked by her supervisors, but the library then said they would display it for two weeks.

"It's spiralled – in a good way!" she said.

She said one of the main things she had taken away from the work was how many famous musicians visited Newcastle at the time.

"When you got to book a concert nowadays, it's not often that someone you want to see comes to Newcastle," she said.

"If you want to go and see someone you've got to go to Manchester or Edinburgh or somewhere nearby."

But looking at concert programmes, she saw that famous artists such as Duke Ellington visited the city multiple times.

The exhibition features African American musicians who visited three venues in Newcastle during the late 1950s and 1960s: City Hall, the former Odeon cinema and Club a'Gogo.

It is made up from archival material held by the library, which had been donated by locals and compiled by volunteers.

"A lot of it is programmes, signed photographs and concert tickets," said Ms Usher-Unsworth.

She said the material was housed in several boxes which she had to sift through.

"I felt like a right nuisance to the staff there but they've been absolutely fab," she said.

She said headphones playing the featured artists' music were available at the exhibit for visitors to enjoy.

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