Don't miss our Q&A screening of Getting It Back at West Norwood Picturehouse, where we'll be joined by the film's director and members of the band themselves. Get tickets here.
In the racially turbulent UK of the early 70s, a group of black musicians came together in South London with a common love of rhythms and a message of peace. Cymande – with the dove as their symbol – combined jazz, funk, soul and Caribbean grooves to form a unique sound. Despite success in the United States, they faced indifference in their native Britain, becoming disillusioned and disbanding in 1975.
But the music lived on, as new generations of artists imbibed and reworked their pioneering sounds in fresh ways. From Soul II Soul to De La Soul, MC Solaar to The Fugees, the Dove had spread Cymande's message far and wide, prompting their return after forty years. This is their story.
