NPR Music recently announced that, for this year’s Black Music Appreciation Month, its “Tiny Desk” series will feature an all-women lineup.
Starting from today, the series will spotlight a leading artist from each generation to celebrate the impact of Black women on music and the music industry. Alongside the Tiny Desk performances, the program will also feature short-form interviews on Instagram, highlighting their experiences in the business.
Series producer and host Bobby Carter revealed the lineup in an interview with ESSENCE. The lineup will reportedly feature artists such as Chaka Khan, Tems, Tierra Whack, Lakecia Benjamin, Kierra Sheard, Flo Mili, Me’Shell Ndegeoccello, Brittney Spencer, and SWV.
“This Black Music Month, we’re giving the ladies their flowers! We’re releasing nine Tiny Desk concerts from Black women who’ve paved the way for what we hear today in Black music and others who are carving out their own paths,” said Carter in a statement. “All of them are queens in their own right who represent a beautiful array of genres, generations and walks of life.”
First announced by then-President Jimmy Carter and celebrated in 1979, Black Music Appreciation Month honors the musical contributions of Black Americans.
The formation of the official month stemmed from the efforts of Kenny Gamble, the legendary producer and songwriter credited for cultivating the Philadelphia soul genre.
After noticing the impact that each celebration of the Country Music Association’s Country Music Month had, Gamble founded the Black Music Association in 1978.
Dedicated to celebrating Black music and mobilizing power to help Black artists gain more control over their art in the music business, influential figures such as Rev. Jesse Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Don Cornelius, Stevie Wonder and Berry Gordy also joined the cause.
Alongside radio DJ and head of the National Association of TV and Radio Announcers Ed Wright and media strategist Dyana Williams, Gamble and the Black Music Association’s first initiative was to create Black Music Month. With the help of Clarence Avant, considered the “Godfather of Black Music,” the month was first officially celebrated on the White House lawn on June 7th, 1979.
June was officially decreed on June 6, 2000 under the efforts of Williams, legally recognizing June as Black Music Month.
“When we established the Black Music Association in the late 1970s, it was our intention to galvanize different aspects of the Black music business, along with the all-important consumers, to elevate our industry and garner respect for the creatives and professionals,” said Gamble per Billboard. “All genres of music created by Black folks in America are our heart and soul gifts — as well as a universal language widely felt and embraced worldwide.”
