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Rock N' Soul: Universal Music Heritage: John Doyle
Rock N' Soul: Universal Music Heritage: John Doyle
2 > 2007
< Focus 5
Rock Painting from Oued Mertoutek, Hoggar (Algeria). Young girls dan-
cing. (Tracing, E. Anati, 1994; Archive WARA E00235).
Rock ‘n’ Soul: Universal Music Heritage
J o h n D o y l e , Executive Director, Memphis Rock n’ Soul Museum (USA)
a traveling exhibition grew into a Soul Museum, Inc. has welcomed over 250,000 STAX Recording and HI Records (rhythm &
museum and how a very local and visitors from all over the world, including thou- blues, soul music).
then regional phenomenon became sands of school students who participate in the > Funding was not
nationally and internationally reco- museum’s Education Program to learn about secured for the traveling
“In the search for the
gnized. the social changes that impacted the nation and exhibition, but a group of
roots of American
>In August, 2004, the Memphis led to the development of rock ‘n’ roll. visionary Memphians
music, all roads lead
Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum became > The “first born” of the world-renowned banded together to raise
to Memphis.”
established as one of the city’s Smithsonian Institution and developed by the the money, complete the
most prominent museums. National Museum of American History (NMAH) research, acquire perti-
Located at 191 Beale, on to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the nent objects and artifacts, and finish the instal-
the corner of legendary Smithsonian Institution in 1996, the Memphis lation and construction of the museum.
Highway 61 at the Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum became the first exhibi- > According to the Smithsonian Institution,
FedExForum sports and tion to have ever been developed by the the finest museum system in the world, “Rock ‘n’
entertainment com- Smithsonian Institution with another museum. Soul: Social Crossroads” is the story of the body of
plex, the museum > In 1990, the NMAH set out to develop a music that had the most influence on the culture
offers a comprehen- traveling exhibition about “American music” and lifestyles of the world during the mid-20th cen-
sive Memphis music and continually returned to the Delta and tury unto this day. It affected the way we walked,
experience from the Memphis, Tennessee for what is finally declared the way we talked, the way we combed our hair
rural field hollers and sha- as the ‘roots of America’s music” – the sounds and the way we dressed – not only in Memphis or
recroppers of the 1930s, of field hollers, work songs, blues, country and the nation, but throughout the entire world.
through the explosion of Sun, Stax and Hi gospel of the sharecroppers in the 1930-40s In 2007, the Museum was awarded as one of
Records and Memphis’ musical heyday in the that eventually collided and fused with the five “Globus American Icon” tourist attractions,
70s, to its global musical influence. The urban sounds of Beale Street (urban blues and a distinction promoted by “Tourism Cares”.
museum’s digital audio tour guide is packed jazz), SUN Studio (rock ‘n’ roll and rockabilly), http://www.memphisrocknsoul.org