The National Museum of African American Music opens in 2020. Of course, the accordion will be included as it is an important part of the African American musical experience.
In early 2017 Cynthia Simien was doing some reading and came upon an interesting article that inspired an idea. After reading about the 40 million dollar National Museum of African American Music being built in Nashville, she decided to get to work. She made a couple modest donations to the museum to get dialed in. She sent a few emails inquiring about a contact in the curation dept. She was determined to get someone to respond to her about an idea she had. Done and done!
Her persistence paid off and after exchanging a few emails, Dr. John Fleming, PhD picked up the phone and called her. They spoke for 45 minutes and just like that – zydeco becomes part of their Rivers of Rhythm exhibit! They decided together what it would consist of. Dr. Fleming requested Terrance’s traditional Fulani hat and she suggested a custom made Creole flag, a Hohner accordion from Queen Ida and a zydeco rubboard or frottoir from Reggie Dural (Buckwheat Zydeco’s son). She went to work again finding someone to custom quilt a Creole flag and began coordinating with Reggie and Ledra (Ida’s daughter) to get these artifacts sent in and catalogued with Dr. Marquita Reed, PhD. The museum will open in 2020, and we are extremely honored to be part of this state of the art museum!
Letter of thanks: NMAAM-letter.pdf
Scheduled to open in Downtown Nashville in Summer 2020, the National museum of African American Music will be a 56,000-square-foot facility that will encourage visitors to discover the many connections and influences that composers have had on all genres of music. From classical to country to jazz and hip hop, NMAAM will integrate history and interactive technology to share the untold story of more than 50 music genres and subgenres. It will be an unparalleled institution, not confined by record label, genre or recording artist, but instead will tell a unique narrative through the lens of black music.
Future publications will have more information.
