New Jamaica Music Museum Will Strengthen Preservation of Musical Heritage

Director and Curator of the Jamaica Music Museum (JaMM), Herbie Miller, has welcomed the development of a new structure to house the facility as a significant milestone in preserving and celebrating Jamaica’s rich musical heritage.

Ground was broken for the state-of-the-art building on September 14 by Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Minister, Hon. Olivia Grange.

It will be built at the corner of East Street and Tower Street in downtown Kingston, on premises owned by the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ).

Speaking with JIS News, Mr. Miller, said that “the inspiration for developing the Jamaica Music Museum is quite elementary. Our music has been such a powerful calling card as far as Jamaican culture is concerned. It’s the identity of the Jamaican people.”

He noted that the new facility is welcomed, as the ever-expanding collection has outgrown its current location.

“To begin with, when we came here, we had like three pieces in the collection – a guitar and a couple dozen records and a jukebox. Today, we have dozens of pieces of things from well-known and not so well-known musicians and singers and cultural practitioners across the whole spectrum. [We] transitioned from a number of smaller places, very uncomfortable and tight, into this much bigger space. But guess what? It’s already tight,” he pointed out.

He said that the new facility is envisioned as a world-class museum, not just in terms of its collection and the intellectual discourse that will take place within it “but as a monument to the great achievement of all who have used our music and culture to bring us to this point still knowing there’s so much more to be victorious at.”

Mr. Miller noted that the JaMM works to highlight Jamaica’s music beyond mere entertainment but as a historical and spiritual narrative of survival, resistance and triumph.

“From capture to crossing the Atlantic, to working the sugarcane plantations for hundreds of years to the point where we are today, music played such a vital role in that liberation, that continuous struggle to be totally free,” he contended.

He pointed out further that the museum’s exhibitions also go beyond chart-topping hits and the celebrity culture usually surrounding popular Jamaican musicians.

“We’re not merely interested in who are stars and superstars and number one songs and million sellers. That’s great [and] that’s part of a bigger story, but when you can link our music to the savannas and the struggles on the mainland of the continent of Africa… you’ll see that it serves as a history narrative in terms of social history, a spiritual way of seeing life,” Mr. Miller said.

JaMM currently has an exhibition titled ‘From African to Jamaican: Music and Creolised Black Culture’ available for viewing by the public.