By Ariyana Griffin
AFRO Staff Writer
agriffin@afro.com
Proprietors of the anticipated Go-Go Museum and Café are giving the public a teaser on Nov. 18 with a ribbon cutting ceremony at the 1920 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. SE location in Washington, D.C.
The opening of the museum will mark a significant moment in the history of go-go music. Not just a physical location, it will but a cultural landmark where people can appreciate and learn about the official music of Washington, D.C.
“The museum is leading an ever-expanding coalition of musicians, scholars and advocates connecting go-go’s polyrhythms to their roots in West Africa and around the Diaspora through exhibitions, programs, partnerships and international collaborations,” the website states.
The ribbon cutting event is intended to be a celebration, featuring live performances and various interactive activities for attendees to enjoy.
The idea of the space has been in the works since the #DontMuteDC movement in 2019, a protest against the erasure of D.C. culture due to Black displacement and gentrification.
“There is a lot of culture erasure going on we’re elevating and advocating to save our music and history in D.C.,” oGo-Go Museum and Café co-founder Ronald Moten told the AFRO. “There’s no better time to do it than now, and we’re happy that we’re bringing something in Washington, D.C., that nobody ever expected. It’s going to be beautiful.”
The cafe and museum fusion will serve as a place for go-go music enthusiasts and lovers to gather and for newcomers to fall in love with the history behind the unique sound. The museum’s website stated that the sound “is a brand of funk, R&B, hip-hop and Afro-Latin rhythms created in the 1970s by ‘Godfather of Go-Go’ Chuck Brown and his Washington D.C. fans.”
In 2020, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed a law that delegated go-go as the official music of the District of Columbia. The act also requires the mayor “to create a plan to support, preserve, and archive go-go music and its history.”
She has also designated the Go-Go Museum as a site in her “Go-Go People’s Plan” to archive, preserve and uplift the history of go-go music.
The ribbon cutting will be a soft opening of the site, as more fundraising is needed to fund the entire development. For more information and updates, visit gogomuseumcafe.com.
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