Mississippi Flood- New B.B King Museum.
Opening Of B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Centre.
By Stephanie Lynne Thorburn.
2008-03-12 12:48:28 - For the 'King of Blues', his instrument Lucille has always represented far more than an emotion or woman; she is an ebony, maple gold, pearl-inlaid heir to the Gibson throne. Her family tree leads us to the road where the crossroads point towards the very essence of modern electric blues. It is from her breast that Riley B. King has drawn a lifetime of achievements. Powerful yet sensual, unfaltering vibrato strokes, two note string bends and trademark techniques are delivered with economic precision. Countless historians have acknowledged the details of significant events in the politics of race and oppression, yet with his guitar by his side, B.B. King is a total entity, he is a cultural event- creative, unerringly personal and iconoclastic. Fire, tempered with the flood of native Mississippi indignation, he realised his musical ends through blood, sweat and tears, tempered by the grace of gospel for those who are willing to receive his presence. It is the musical piece de resistance of T-Bone Walker, Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy and B.B.'s deft vibrato that have collectively breathed depth and form into a new millennium of blues. Eclipsing the worlds of jazz and trad blues, B.B. King's progressive cry for liberty from the depression and plantations could never be reducible to oral history written solely into the pages of a biography or musical score.
To mark B.B.’s 80th birthday in 2006, a groundbreaking project was broached to establish a museum marking some six decades in the career of the ‘King of blues’; the B.B.King Museum will be combined with the ‘Delta Interpretive Centre’, an educational facility. Placed in B.B.’s hometown of Indianola Mississippi, located partially on the site of an abandoned gin mill where King once laboured, the museum should outreach and provide education to impoverished youngsters in the Delta region, stimulating a new generation of musicians. The project is finally coming closer to fruition and has recently benefited from a significant financial donation by AT & T Incorporated of $500,000- the Delta Regional Authority and the Economic Development Administration have also made further substantial financial contributions to the project. Naturally B.B. King is delighted that his home state are supporting the museum and Delta Interpretive Centre, which will encompass some 20,000 square feet of exhibitions and educational programmes for residents and visitors alike. The centre will offer an integration of oral histories, including those of King, formed into short films and computer interactive elements. B.B. King’s museum facility is designed to preserve not only his seminal legacy, but also the unique and world-renowned cultural heritage of the Mississippi Delta region.
The official web base for the B.B. King Museum Foundation provides a succinct description of the philosophies and facilities at the heart of the project: -
”The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Centre will offer Delta young people hope. Proposed educational, cultural and character development programming will take the form of classes, mentoring, interactive exhibits and B.B. King could not find in the Mississippi of his youth. In addition, the stories of the Delta, from its history to its music, social mores, race relations, literature and legends, adversities and successes will be examined in one interpretive setting. Since all these elements came together to produce the Blues and Bluesmen, the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Centre will be a repository for the ingredients that brewed America’s root music.”
The Grand Opening for the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Centre will be on 13th September 2008. For further details and updates, please visit :-
http://www.bbkingmuseum.org/
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B.B.King Museum and Delta Interpretive Centre- Indianola, Mississippi. |
Stephanie Lynne Thorburn- Freelance Music Writer.