Barbadians at home and across the diaspora are being invited to help choose the 60 songs that best define the nation’s journey since Independence through BIM@60.
Launched on Wednesday at the Barbados Museum & Historical Society, the campaign is a collaboration between the museum and the National Cultural Foundation (NCF). It invites the public to vote from a curated list of more than 200 songs that have shaped Barbados’ cultural identity over the past six decades. The project will culminate in a permanent digital archive, curated playlists, a documentary, museum exhibitions and educational resources.
Opening the launch, Barbados Museum & Historical Society director Alissandra Cummins said the initiative reflects the institution’s broader vision of making heritage more accessible and participatory as it approaches its centenary in 2033.
Barbados Museum & Historical Society Director Alissandra Cummins. (Photo Credit: Kemar Holder)
“Heritage cannot be confined to buildings or display cases,” she said. “Heritage lives in people. It lives in communities, traditions, creativity, language, memory, and shared experiences.”
She explained that the museum is reimagining its role as “a museum that is more open, more connected, and more relevant than ever before”, adding that it aims to combine “collections with conversations, research with participation, and preservation with public engagement.”
“Our stories, our museum,” she said. “They remind us that the museum does not belong to a single generation, a single profession, or a single community. It belongs equally to the child visiting for the first time, the researcher exploring our archives, the artist finding inspiration, the family tracing its history, the Barbadians living overseas, and the visitor discovering our island for the very first time.”
Cummins also announced that the museum will launch its capital campaign in August, describing it as “an investment in the stories we preserve, the knowledge we share, and the legacy we leave for future generations.”
Deputy director Kevin Farmer said music has always served as a historical record and remains one of the most powerful expressions of Barbadian identity.
From left: Barbados Museum & Historical Society Deputy Director Kevin Farmer with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for Pan African Affairs and Heritage Trevor Prescod shaking the hand of Mr Blood. (Photo Credit: Kemar Holder)
“It reminds us that music is more than entertainment. It is evidence and testimony. It is history,” he said. “It tells the story of a nation. It tells the story of people.”
Farmer challenged Barbadians worldwide to participate by selecting the songs that have left “that indelible mark on your memory,” whether they are gospel, soca, calypso, jazz, R&B, rock or hip-hop.
“That is the heart of BIM at 60,” he said. “We’re simply asking for you to share with us how the last 60 years are in a way inscribed on and in your memory.”
He also highlighted the historical significance of the Barbados slave song, describing it as “one of the oldest documented enslaved songs in this entire region” and noting that it has been inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register through international collaboration.
Asked why the museum is leading a music project, Farmer said preserving living heritage is just as important as preserving historical artefacts.
“When you think of us, it is not simply about objects and pages, but it is about music. It’s about that which keeps us alive,” he said. “We’re trying in a very small way to capture it and immortalize it within 60 years of independence and the fifth anniversary as a republic.”
He also encouraged members of the public to help identify musical memorabilia and documents that could enrich the museum’s collections.
“Our musicians and music writers sometimes write informally – backs of napkins on board a plane, back of a brochure on a train ride, at the beach scribbling,” he said. “Those stories are as important as the songs themselves.”
CEO at NCF Carol Roberts. (Photo Credit: Kemar Holder)
NCF chief executive Carol Roberts described the campaign as an opportunity for Barbadians to collectively define the nation’s musical identity:
“BIM@60 is a project that asks a deceptively simple question: ‘What does Barbados sound like?’
“Our music is the most complete record we have of who we are – our humor, our struggles, our faith, our resilience, our passion, our hope, and our joy.”
Roberts said the museum’s expert panel had already identified more than 200 culturally significant songs, but stressed that the public would ultimately determine the final list.
“This will not be an archive built behind closed doors,” she said. “From that curated list, it is you, me, the people of Barbados at home and across the diaspora, who will vote to choose the final top 60. Sixty songs for 60 years.”
She said the campaign’s legacy would extend well beyond the public vote.
“This initiative will produce a permanent digital archive and curated playlists, a documentary telling the stories behind the music, museum exhibitions and educational resources for our schools,” Roberts said. “This will allow a child in a classroom in St Lucy or St Philip, Toronto… to trace the journey of their Barbadian music and understand that it belongs to them.”
The NCF, she added, will provide recordings for public listening, engage artists and rights holders and support the campaign through its marketing platforms and national programming.
“To our artists, composers, arrangers and producers, this project is, above all, for you,” she said. “It says that your work is not in vain. It is heritage. It is history.”
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for Pan-African Affairs and Heritage Trevor Prescod said the campaign comes at an important point in Barbados’ history as the country celebrates 60 years of Independence and five years as a republic.
“Each generation must discover its historic mission. You either honor it or betray it,” he said, quoting Frantz Fanon. “I think staff of the museum, the NCF, and the Ministry… have all discovered our historic mission.”
Prescod said music has long documented the Barbadian experience and should continue to be used to strengthen national identity while guiding future generations.
“Over the years, the story of Barbados has been told in the lyrics of our fathers,” he said. “For generations, Barbadian artists, musicians, composers and cultural practitioners have given voice to our experiences, our aspirations, our struggles and our triumphs.”
He also called for greater investment in the cultural industries, arguing that music should be viewed as an economic sector as well as a cultural one.
“Music can be an industry that can be successful and can help artists accumulate wealth,” he said. “It is not only about entertainment.”
Prescod urged continued support for Barbadian musicians and suggested greater international promotion of local talent.
To close the event, Mr Dale and Mr Blood performed a selection of songs from this year, along with some of their earlier hits.
Mr Dale performing his songs. (Photo Credit: Kemar Holder)
The BIM@60 campaign is now open, with members of the public able to vote online and at interactive kiosks launched alongside the project. Organisers expect the final list of 60 songs to become a lasting record of the music that has shaped Barbados since Independence while preserving those stories for future generations.
(LE)
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