Exposition Jamaica Jamaica, a four-month exhibition on Jamaican music, opens next Tuesday at Philharmonie de Paris in France.

The multi-dimensional event, which showcases pieces owned by the Jamaican Government as well as from private collections, closes on August 13.

Sebastien Carayol, curator at Philharmonie de Paris, is chief organiser of the exhibit. Emmy Lou Mai, who works with the museum, coordinated the movement of pieces to France with Consultant Colin Leslie of Imani Music, and Herbie Miller, curator of the Jamaica Music Museum.

Carayol is confident the combination of conventional and interactive browsing will make Exposition Jamaica Jamaica a success.

“It will show collections that were scattered all over the world and sometimes showed for the first time outside of their natural habitat, including Jackie Mittoo’s organ from Studio One, King Tubby’s mixing desk and bass bin from his sound system Hometown Hifi, Peter Tosh’s M16-shaped guitar, etc,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

While the legacy of artistes, musicians and producers get the lion’s share of attention, the contribution of a pivotal figure in Jamaican music, who never played or sang a note, will be recognised.

“People can listen to records from Alpha Boys’ School’s Sisters Ignatius’s personal collection. The idea is to educate but also entertain,” said Carayol.

Sister Mary Ignatius Davies, who died in February 2003 aged 81, was a mentor to many musicians who passed through Alpha, where she entered in 1939. They include trombonist Don Drummond and trumpeter Johnny “Dizzy” Moore, who later formed The Skatalites band.

Since opening in 2015, Philharmonie de Paris has hosted exhibitions of rock icons Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie. The Jamaican music expo is the most expansive, with a planning schedule of five years.

Carayol said all involved were determined to present a diverse exhibition.

“In this exhibition, unlike many before, the idea is to have Jamaica tell us its story from its own perspective as much as possible, and not us in France giving an outsider’s vision of what we understand of Jamaica’s music and culture,” he explained. “The mainstream in France is often limited to the sole Bob Marley, with no awareness of the great sound systems, singers, musicians, deejays and producers who have shaped Jamaican music.”