We shall overcome

There's something about the word "Congress" that makes you think of North Korea, isn't there? This has got something of the Tooting Popular Front about it, the faint smell of having been cooked up by one bloke in a bedsit trying to become famous. And while we'll probably buy the idea that Amy Winehouse and Joss Stone could be said to be playing "black music", if there is such a thing, how the hell they drag Lily Allen into this is a bit of a mystery. About as plausible as Naomi Campbell uttering a revelation or the music business having a system.

Black Music Congress Press Release

Feb. 8 2008

AFRICAN BRITISH ARTIST ARE LOOKING BEYOND RACISM TO DEVELOP THEIR CAREERS

The recent revelations by supermodel Naomi Campbell and her former agent that the modelling business is racist, resulting in African models not being put forward for lucrative jobs or earning less than their European peers, is nothing new for many Africans in the music industry.

Four years ago at a Black Music Congress (BMC) debate, panellist Mykaell Riley, accused the music industry of “systematic, and endemic institutional racism.”

Except for Corinne Bailey Rae, no new African British act has achieved major success in the last two years. However, Britain’s best-selling black music acts are Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen.