Go-Go

Go-go is the percussion-driven funk music of Washington, D.C., built for continuous live performance: songs flow without pause into one another over congas, rototoms, timbales and cowbell, locked to a deep pocket of bass and guitar, while a lead talker trades call-and-response chants with the crowd. *Chuck Brown* created the form in the mid-1970s with the *Soul Searchers*, stretching funk grooves so dancers never had to stop, and bands such as *Trouble Funk*, *E.U.* and *Rare Essence* made it the District's defining sound. Go-go was named the official music of Washington, D.C. in 2020.