Black Frequency Sound Library brings Baltimore’s music history to Lexington Market

Books, records, CDs and music equipment arranged together.

Baltimore’s recorded history is getting a place to be heard, handled and discussed. The Black Frequency Sound Library, led by Xavier “Seven” Walker at BMA Lexington Market, began November 5th, 2026, with free listening sessions and hands-on opportunities to explore the city’s sounds.

The museum lists the program on Thursdays and Saturdays, from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., through December 19th. Registration is encouraged. Visitors can use listening stations, explore archival resources and take part in consultations focused on preserving and understanding sound.

Thursday sessions add a practical production component: Walker’s drop-in DJ and studio hours run from 1 to 3 p.m. The BMA encourages participants to bring a laptop and DJ controller. The location is the museum’s Lexington Market space at 112 North Eutaw Street, rather than its main campus.

Two later workshops follow recordings between formats. On November 21st, the Analog → Digital session is scheduled from noon to 3 p.m.; participants are encouraged to bring CDs or vinyl and need email access or an external drive. The December 5th Digital → Physical workshop runs during the same hours and focuses on making mixtapes.

The residency sits within the BMA’s Practicing Place program, which brings six artists into Lexington Market to examine Baltimore’s public spaces. Walker’s project concentrates on local nightlife from the 1980s to the present, using archival research and oral histories to consider how music connects people to place.

The BMA describes Walker as a multimedia DJ, archivist and cultural organizer, and identifies him as the creator of Black Frequency Archive and [THE FUNCTION]. That combination gives the residency both a preservation focus and a participatory one: visitors can learn about existing recordings while developing their own skills.

For a weekend visit, check the museum’s official program page and registration calendar before heading out. The library is one more way to explore Baltimore’s cultural record, alongside the institutional work highlighted in PowerPage’s coverage of Maryland’s African American heritage grants.