Blk Music / Blk Montreal | CBMA x CKUT Takeover
This past week was a milestone for CKUT as we welcomed Phil Vassel and Donna McCurvin from the Canada Black Music Archives and Mark Campbell from U of T's Afrosonic Innovation Lab to the airwaves for deep dives in to Montreal's rich Black music history- much of which CKUT has been at the nexus of for the past 4 decades.
More than a broadcast, The Takeover: Black Music / Black Montreal is an act of cultural preservation, research, and documentation. It is a rallying call to reclaim the narratives of Black musical contributions that have been too often left out of Canada’s official stories and music archives.
From August 21–24, The Takeover shined a spotlight on significant artists, DJs, promoters, and influencers who played leading roles in shaping Montreal’s Black and Caribbean Canadian cultural identity.
The event featured nearly 15 hours of original programming, tracing the long gaze of Montreal’s Black musical history, from jazz rooted in African diasporic traditions, through waves of Caribbean migration, to the explosive innovations of Reggae, Dancehall, Hip-Hop, Kompa, Soca, Afrobeat, and beyond.
Big thanks to CKUT hosts Roger Moore, Butcher T, Raymond Laurent, Howard “Stretch” Carr, Pat Dillon-Moore, Wayne the Angel, and DJ Storme for welcoming all our guests.
(Above, from front to back – Mark Campbell (CBMA), Phil Vassell (Afrosonics Innovation Lab), Donna McCurvin (CBMA), and CKUT’s very own Butcher T.
Scroll down to see more photos from our live broadcasts and listen to the radio episodes.
