Overview: The Go-Go Museum & Café in Washington, D.C.’s historic Anacostia neighborhood preserves and champions Go-Go, the district’s official music genre pioneered by Chuck Brown. Through interactive exhibitions, mobile showcases, live performances, and community activations, the museum documents the genre’s West African polyrhythms, celebrates its local roots, and secures its cultural future.
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How the Go-Go Museum & Café in historic Anacostia is safeguarding Washington, D.C.’s official music and diasporic legacy.
Just as brass bands are to New Orleans or country music is to Nashville, Go-Go music is D.C.’s own soundtrack.
About the Museum
Our Mission to document, preserve, and innovate Go-Go music, whose polyrhythms have roots in West Africa. We connect this sound to its diasporic roots through our exhibitions, programs, and partnerships and create opportunities for international collaborations.
Our Story
The Go-Go Museum & Café provides a foundational introduction to Go-Go music and culture from its headquarters in the historic Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Go-Go music is a brand of funk, R&B, hip-hop, and Afro-Latin rhythms created in the 1970s by “Godfather of Go-Go” Chuck Brown and his Washington D.C. fans. On February 19, 2020, Mayor Muriel Bowser signed a law naming Go-Go the Official Music of Washington, D.C.
Our Mission
The Go-Go Museum & Café is bringing this legislation to life by hosting live music and physical exhibitions at our location in Southeast Washington and mobile exhibits and performances online and off-site. The Go-Go Museum & Café stays true to the call-and-response nature of go-go with innovative cultural activations that engage longtime D.C. residents, newcomers, and tourists alike. This living museum needs your participation to preserve this art form’s history and to secure its future.
https://www.gogomuseumcafe.com/support
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