The Funky, Community-Driven Sound of Black Portland in the ’60s and ’70s

North Portland’s Albina neighborhood used to be home to a thriving music scene, where Black musicians would perform nightly in nightclubs and community spaces. Urban renewal bulldozed many of those neighborhoods in the ’60s and ’70s, but thanks to the Albina Music Trust, we’re now all able to dig into the past through a new digital community archive. Today we’re talking with the project’s lead archivist Bobby Smith and Norman Sylvester, a longtime musician who grew up playing in the Albina music scene. 

Links From Today’s Show:

• Rated X performing “Rated X” from the Albina Community Archive
• Events: 
• Norman Sylvester at iliani Casino, March 21
• Norman Sylvester at Waterfront Blues Festival, July 4 - 7
• Albina Music Trust at Summer Free For All
• Save the Date: Albina Music Trust and the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center present: “Time Sound,” August 24

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