Musical World

In a follow-up to his groundbreaking book Musical Truth, Jeffrey Boakye once again examines the significance of music as a reflection of politics, human rights and social change. But this time his spotlight isn’t restricted to the UK, it beams around the entire globe focussing on key moments in world history as they affected different cultural and ethnic groups.

In a playlist of 40 songs from artists as diverse as Shakira, John Lennon, Billie Holiday, the Spice Girls and Drake, Boakye asks whether music has the power to build bridges and overcome racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination.

He looks at artists who broke barriers and changed people’s expectations of music, charting the origins of soul, reggae, hip hop and other genres born out of suffering and injustice but also from joy and celebration.

Each song selected is introduced with a representative black and white print and discussed in a few pages that cover its significance to music and relevance to the world.

Including debate about apartheid, the Holocaust, the Division of Africa and homophobia, this is an exciting, thoughtful, passionate and thought-provoking exposition that would be great to kick-start discussions among young people from 11 years upwards.