Lambros Fatsis (Policing the beats) - talk, discussion and vinyl set

Tue Mar 24 2026 at 07:30 pm to 10:00 pm UTC+00:00

The Green Room at the Black Box | Belfast

Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas & Politics
Publisher/HostImagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas & Politics
Lambros Fatsis (Policing the beats) - talk, discussion and vinyl set
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Rewinding the tape to show how music has been used to police Black people, revealing the racist legal processes that make crimes out rhymes
About this Event

Conversation between Lambros Fatsis and Kim-Marie Spence will be followed by an all-vinyl Jamaican and Afro-Caribbean DJ set.

The emergence of UK drill music made headline news, portraying it as a criminal enterprise instead of recognising it as an art form. This new rap subgenre, however, is neither the first nor the only Black music to be targeted this way.

Policing the Beats rewinds the tape to demonstrate how music has been used as an instrument for policing Black people, from the era of colonial slavery to the present day, revealing the racist legal processes that make crimes out of rhymes.

This is the first in-depth account of the policing of Black music in Britain, highlighting the relationship between politics, culture and criminal (in)justice and inviting music lovers, scholars and activists to tune in.

Lambros Fatsis (aka Boulevard Soundsystem) is a lover of Black music(s) who lectures on the history of police racism and the criminalisation of Afro-diasporic music culture at City St. George's University of London

Lambros will be interviewed by Kim-Marie Spence, a lecturer in cultural industries and cultural policy at Queen’s University Belfast and an associate of the Black Music Research Unit (University of Westminster), with on the Non-West with emphasis including reggae/dancehall and K-pop. Her recent research projects focus on Black Music/ians in Northern Ireland and Streaming in Jamaica.

19:30-20:30 Book talk and interview

20:30-22:00 DJ session (vinyl)

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Green Room at the Black Box, 18-22 Hill Street, Belfast, United Kingdom

Tickets

GBP 0.00 to GBP 8.02

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