Canada

Black

Music

black music legacy

The CBMA's mission is to research, preserve and celebrate various music genres, created, influenced and inspired by primarily Black Canadian musicians.

archive

Customize how you search the CBMA archive. Click any of the archive categories to get started or select a featured artist to view more information about them!

artist

genre

region

decade

Salome Bey

1930s, Blues, Jazz, Ontario

Portia White

1940s, Classical, Gospel, Nova Scotia

Oscar Peterson

1940s, Jazz, Ontario

Maestro [Maestro Fresh Wes]

1980s, HipHop, Ontario, Rap

Lillian Allen

1980s, Dub Poetry, Ontario, Reggae, Spoken Word

Liberty Silver

1970s, Calypso, Ontario, R&B, Reggae, Soul

Leroy Sibbles

1960s, Ontario, Reggae

Jackie Mittoo

1960s, Ontario, Reggae

Eleanor Collins

1940s, British Columbia, Jazz

David Rudder

1970s, Calypso

Dan Hill

1970s, Folk, Ontario, Pop

Bobby Dean-Blackburn

1950s, Blues, Gospel, Ontario, R&B, Rock

Archie Alleyne

1950s, Jazz, Ontario

Ada Lee

1950s, British Columbia, Ontario

featured

news

Collage of various Black Canadian Artists

City of Toronto Proclaims June as Black Music Month (2025)

June 1, 2025

This June 2025 has officially been proclaimed as Black Music Month in the city of Toronto. Following a request from the Canada Black Music Archives, Mayor Olivia Chow and her office have issued a proclamation stating June as Black Music Month, highlighting the contributions of Black Canadian musicians to the artform.