---
title: ‘A Place of Celebration’ for Go-Go Music
date: 2025-02-06T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/a-place-of-celebration-for-go-go-music"
section: Articles
---
# ‘A Place of Celebration’ for Go-Go Music

*February 6, 2025* — by [Sala Levin ’10](/author/sala-levin-10)


> UMD Alumna Curates Museum Dedicated to Washington, D.C.’s Signature Sound

*Hopkinson Natalie Go Go Museum 01102025 RS 0365 1920x1080 — The stairwell of Washington, D.C.'s new Go-Go Museum, curated by Natalie Hopkinson M.A. '99, Ph.D. '07 (left), shows images of local concertgoers and activists. The new institution, which opens this month, tells the story of the city's signature sound.*

What do ’90s slacker icon Beck, pioneering New York City female hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa and reigning musical queen Beyoncé have in common? They’ve all been influenced by a genre of music born and raised in the nation’s capital: go-go.

On Feb. 18, the Go-Go Museum and Café will open its doors, letting visitors listen to, dance along with and learn about the percussive music that’s unique to Washington, D.C.

“At its core, this is a place of communion,” said Natalie Hopkinson M.A. ’99, Ph.D. ’07, the museum’s curator and co-founder. “It’s a place of celebration. It’s a place of upholding traditions that have been in Black communities for centuries.”

The museum, funded by a combination of city grants and private donations, tells the history of go-go’s creation and development, highlights some of the genre’s key players, hosts a recording studio and concert spaces, and explores how go-go has shaped artists from all corners of the musical world.

It also examines how the style has served as a scapegoat for violence and drugs; in 1987, the D.C. Council passed legislation that placed a curfew on young people going to go-go music halls, purportedly to curb violent incidents that had taken place at some of them.


*Natalie Hopkinson poses in Go-Go Museum*



**Sidebar note:**

The Go-Go Museum & Café will open to the public on Feb. 18 at 1920 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE, Washington, D.C. 20020. Find more information at [gogomuseumcafe.com](http://gogomuseumcafe.com/).

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This is one of a series of Maryland Today features during Black History Month celebrating Terp faculty, staff, students and alums.





**Topics:** [People](https://today.umd.edu/tags/people)


**Tags:** [Alumni](https://today.umd.edu/topic/alumni), [Music](https://today.umd.edu/topic/music), [Black History Month](https://today.umd.edu/topic/black-history-month), [Arts](https://today.umd.edu/topic/arts)


**Units:** [Philip Merrill College of Journalism](https://today.umd.edu/topic/philip-merrill-college-journalism)