Music,migration & Culture Identity African Diaspora Artist In The United Kingdom

This essay examines the relationship between music, migration, and cultural identity among African diasporic artists in the United Kingdom, with a particular focus on lived experience within the Tees Valley. While existing scholarship has predominantly... More

This essay examines the relationship between music, migration, and cultural identity among African diasporic artists in the United Kingdom, with a particular focus on lived experience within the Tees Valley. While existing scholarship has predominantly centred on large metropolitan areas such as London and Birmingham, this study addresses a notable gap by exploring how identity is negotiated within a smaller regional context — one that is often overlooked in cultural and sociological research yet no less rich in the stories it holds. Through a combination of theoretical analysis and autoethnographic reflection, the research investigates how music functions not only as artistic expression but as a critical medium through which diasporic individuals construct, negotiate, and communicate identity. Drawing upon the foundational work of Hall (1990; 1996), Bhabha (1994), and Gilroy (1993; 2005), the study argues that cultural identity is not fixed but continuously produced throug Less