Museu do Reggae do Maranhão, Music museum in Historic Center, São Luís, Brazil
The Reggae Museum of Maranhão displays records, photographs, instruments, and memorabilia tied to the local music movement across five exhibition spaces. The collections document Caribbean musical influences and their development throughout the region.
This facility opened in January 2018 as the first reggae museum outside Jamaica. It documents how Caribbean music influences arrived and took root in the region starting in the 1970s.
Local reggae developed its own traits: a slower, more romantic and sensual beat, and the "agarradinho" partner dance. Researchers link its rhythm to folk forms such as bumba-meu-boi and tambor de crioula, and locally popular songs are called "melô" or "pedra". A guided tour in the Historic Center visits places tied to this history, with a dance group performing.
The museum occupies five rooms in the Historic Center of São Luís, with a Hall of Immortals and four rooms named after local reggae clubs: Pop Som, Toque de Amor, União do BF and Espaço Aberto. A library of books, articles, theses and dissertations supports research, and the Roots Café serves visitors. The space also hosts shows, festivals, workshops and dance classes.
The collection holds a guitar from the band Tribo de Jah and an original radiola sound system built by Edmilson Tomé da Costa, a reggae pioneer. These pieces reveal how homemade sound systems became central to the local music scene.
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