diff --git a/hbp_nrp_music_interface/hbp_nrp_music_interface/cle/MUSICPyNNControlAdapter.py b/hbp_nrp_music_interface/hbp_nrp_music_interface/cle/MUSICPyNNControlAdapter.py
index ded51a715eaa1b0b14997934512388bb81353331..ca649d6217f9dc754ab052f876b3c4f443b33cb8 100644
--- a/hbp_nrp_music_interface/hbp_nrp_music_interface/cle/MUSICPyNNControlAdapter.py
+++ b/hbp_nrp_music_interface/hbp_nrp_music_interface/cle/MUSICPyNNControlAdapter.py
@@ -28,6 +28,12 @@ class MUSICPyNNControlAdapter(PyNNControlAdapter):
         """
         self.__load_music_brain_proxies(**populations)
 
+        # load the brain source for the frontend to display, copied from parent class
+        logger.info("Saving brain source")
+        import hbp_nrp_cle.tf_framework.config as tf_config
+        with open(network_file) as source:
+            tf_config.brain_source = source.read()
+
     @staticmethod
     def __load_music_brain_proxies(**populations):
         """
diff --git a/hbp_nrp_music_interface/hbp_nrp_music_interface/tests/cle/test_control_adapter.py b/hbp_nrp_music_interface/hbp_nrp_music_interface/tests/cle/test_control_adapter.py
index 16c5a8abebd44296192d3fc0862997cb2c1d3374..098ef3f168535b0298e7b444587fe687ca909c4e 100644
--- a/hbp_nrp_music_interface/hbp_nrp_music_interface/tests/cle/test_control_adapter.py
+++ b/hbp_nrp_music_interface/hbp_nrp_music_interface/tests/cle/test_control_adapter.py
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 import unittest
 
 from hbp_nrp_music_interface.cle.MUSICPyNNControlAdapter import MUSICPyNNControlAdapter
+import hbp_nrp_cle.tf_framework.config as tf_config
 
-from mock import Mock, patch
+from mock import Mock, patch, mock_open
 import os
 
 
@@ -22,9 +23,17 @@ class TestControlAdapter(unittest.TestCase):
       @patch('os.environ.get', return_value='')
       @patch('hbp_nrp_music_interface.cle.MUSICBrainLoader.load_proxies_from_xml')
       def test_valid_xml(self, mocked_setup, mocked_environ, mocked_load):
-          mc = MUSICPyNNControlAdapter()
-          mc.load_brain('foo.xml')
+        
+          m = mock_open()
+          m.return_value.read.return_value = 'mock brain source'
+
+          with patch('__builtin__.open', m, create=True):
+              mc = MUSICPyNNControlAdapter()
+              mc.load_brain('foo.xml')
+
           mocked_environ.assert_called_once_with('NRP_MUSIC_DIRECTORY')
+          m.assert_called_once_with('foo.xml')
+          self.assertEquals(tf_config.brain_source, 'mock brain source')
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()