All language subtitles for Getting.It.Back.The.Story.Of.Cymande.2022.

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I have this concept
that I call "saviour music"

when pop music that is
so huge you can't escape it

is also good.

And in high school

my saviour music
was the Fugees.

The Score came out.

You know, and it was such a
huge record.

It was one of the greatest
records of all time.

# You rockin' live
but you ain't sayin' nothing

# It's time to settle the score

# I play my enemies
like a game of...

You'd be at a party or
something,

and there'd be tons
of shitty music playing,

but there was that Fugees CD
in the pile of terrible CDs

that would always
save my life.

And the song "The Score"...

I'll never forget
hearing that song come on.

I was like, "Wow!"

And I think for a long time

I didn't even know it was
the sample.

And then,
ten years later or something,

we were on a roof top
in Manhattan...

just partying one night
after we played a show

and somebody
played the Fugees.

"The Score" was on,
we were listening to it.

And somebody was like,
"Have you heard the song

that's the sample from that?"

And I said,
"What are you talking about?"

They're like, "Yeah,
it's this band, Cymande,

and it's called 'Dove'".

And we sat there
on this roof in Manhattan

and he played "Dove"

and I was just
forever changed.

That song to me
is so profoundly important

that it almost eclipses
everything.

It's like a magic spell.

You know, it's like you
literally put a spell on me.

It really does seem
otherworldly.

Just feel like it came down
on a spaceship or something.

It's coming
from another place.

And you can feel it.

You're affected by it.
There's something going on.

There's some music that's
just bigger than music.

And you think to yourself,

"Why isn't this band huge?"

How did these people
come together

to create something incredible

and most people
have never heard of them?

It sounds like something

that popular culture
would have embraced

and then you find out
that that's not the case.

These guys need to be known

for their contribution
to music.

Back in the day people
came out to party.

Once you put that on,
boom, lights out.

You don't want nothing else,
you ain't need nothing else.

Just put that joint on.

I had discovered
this new kind of music

and I wanted to turn
my friends onto it.

The sound unified everybody.

It transcends
from generation to generation.

Once it touches your soul,

you've gotta take
some piece of it with you

and I was like, "I gotta
do something with that."

They set the tone
for so many of us today.

Their music has been endorsed

by every subsequent music
movement to date.

I knew all the songs.
I didn't know it was them.

Then I realised,
"These guys are everywhere."

Hidden in plain sight.

And that added
this even weirder aspect

to the whole mystery.

How have I not heard
of this band before?

I'm trying to understand
why it's been suppressed.

Why has it not had
that freedom

that it was intended to have?

There are still
so many unanswered questions.

Who are those guys?

Where are these guys from?
Where did they go?

What happened to them?

What was their demise?

Music is pure magic.

It's one of the most beautiful
ways we can share love.

The only way
you can ever succeed

is to make
what's in your heart.

To bring what's in your heart
into this world.

And love it yourself.

This is my general walk,
you know.

The lungs producing
too much carbon dioxide.

So...

I come all the time to get
some oxygen from the trees.

So I come here
as often as I can, you know?

Someday you're not really
up to it, really, but...

Some days you are.

Sometimes I sit here...

and I enjoy the sun.

Taking the vitamin D...

which is good for me.

I thought
we could have sold millions.

When I speak about Cymande,

it's not just about
what music we played,

but what we represented.

Since the war,
the people of this land

have seen it change
almost out of recognition.

One of the biggest changes
has been the massive inflow

of hundreds of thousands
of coloured immigrants.

We were all Caribbean.

Not from the same country,
but the same region.

With them they
have brought new

and widely incompatible
cultures,

social customs and habits.

England was not simply
the mother country,

but the place to go
to maximise our potential.

# I don't want to feel down

# 'Cause my name
is getting around

When I actually arrived
in England,

I was six, going on seven.

Coming to this place
was quite traumatic.

# 'Cause I don't know
where I'm bound

I remember
feeling this chill,

and it was summer
from where we came.

It was cold.

I have this image
in the back of my mind.

You're going
to this fantastic place,

it's going to be paved in gold.

And in reality it's dark,

dismal, miserable.

Everywhere looked the same,
you would get lost.

The fog. You couldn't see
where you were going,

couldn't see your hands.

But you get used to it
because you've got to survive.

No matter what,
you've got to survive, you know.

Our parents were
professional people,

well educated.

They assumed
this place would provide

an educational
and professional advance.

But once we arrived here,

what we found was a society

that was not accepting
of Black people.

It's a tragedy for Britain,

a tragedy
for the British people.

We do not have
sufficient houses,

jobs and schools
for our own people,

let alone immigrants,

be they Black,
brown, yellow or green.

We should at least
have the dignity

of being allowed
to live with our own kind.

We're full up
with noisy foreigners

and we don't like it.

My parents' hopes and dreams
for themselves and for us

were shattered
very, very quickly.

My father, when he was
in Jamaica, he was a baker.

And when he came here

he went to one
of the bread-making companies.

I can't remember which one.

And they said, "We can't
employ you as a baker."

"Why?"

"Because basically
you're not allowed...

Being Black,
you're not allowed

to put your hand
in the dough."

I watched my father become
very old very quickly

after things like that.

Though things
might be difficult,

got people not used to you,

they give you bad looks
or say things...

You would get together
at your friends'

and draw strength
from each other, you know?

This was our meeting point.

The community meeting point
for everyone of our group.

This was the place.

This was
where everything happened.

I lived at number 15,

and Steve was living
at number 23.

And we have lived
in close proximity

from that day to this.

# Dove and pigeon,

# what two good companions.

I remember I got a piano.

My friend...

You couldn't get it
through the door.

So Mister Brains here...

- I disassembled it.
- We disassembled it.

- And reassembled it...
- In the back.

You pressed the key.

There was
absolutely nothing, so...

That was the end
of that piano.

Steve got the name on.

It comes
from the chorus of a...

famous Calypso.

We wanted something unusual

where the name itself
projected...

something
about where we came from.

Cymande started with six.

The first core member that we
made contact with was Mike.

One of the early gigs
I got playing flute

was with Ginger Johnson.

That's where I first met
Patrick Patterson

and Steve Scipio.

They invited me to come to play
with their band in Brixton.

People called me "Bammi",

which was a name that I got
from school days in Jamaica

which never left me.

I don't know why.

I started hitting drums,
rather than playing drums,

more as therapy.

Like a lot of us at that time,
I had this anger about me.

I wasn't very good
at communicating those days.

So, with drumming,
I could express myself.

Patrick, Steve and Bammi
had a jazz band

and they had a gig

and their drummer
couldn't make it.

Somebody heard that there was
a guy down the road

who had been bashing things,

so I ended up
playing with this band.

We are self-taught musicians.

We had that originality
about the way we played.

A lot of bass players were
just support bass players.

I always wanted the bass
to be an instrument that...

speaks.

Patrick has a different style
of guitar playing.

He's not flash, but he just
puts in the right ingredients.

If there's a space there,
he won't just play rhythm.

He would put little touches.

He can go out and play
two notes in a solo

and that says it all.

You'll get another guy
who'll play a million notes

and say nothing.

I was living
in the next street

to where they were rehearsing.

They were just
a bunch of young guys.

They were more like brothers.

Derek and Sam were cousins,

so it was more
like a family thing, really.

I used to play
with a piano player.

One night Patrick
was in the audience

and he came up to me and said,

"We've formed a band.
Would I be interested?"

I said,�You think I�m good enough?
You're there, you can hear."

That's how it started.

We all appreciated what it is
that we wanted to achieve

in terms of blending
musical styles.

That was when I brought
Pablo Gonsales from Catford

into the rehearsal room
in Brixton.

I went down to the rehearsal
with Bammi.

I started to play.

Patrick said,
"Oh, yeah. That's the sound."

That's the element
that was missing.

I didn't go to school
to learn the drums.

It's all coming from within.

It's like a gift
was handed down to me

by my ancestors,
you know what I mean?

I was born with it

and it's spiritual.

'Cause music and all,
it's a spiritual thing.

In our day, reggae music
hadn't even started,

but part of the community here
that we mixed with

were Rastafarian.

And we wanted to incorporate
the Rasta drums,

and the Rasta chants
and the Rasta anthems.

And let the chanter
go with that.

The Rasta drums,
the funk, the jazz influences.

It sort of emerged as Cymande.

Our purpose is to destroy
the multiracial society

and to render Britain
a monoracial society again

because our party seeks

to preserve the ethnic
integrity of the British nation.

We answered a call
in the early 50s

to come here to help
and build the mother country.

First of all, an immediate
halt to coloured immigration.

And thereafter, the phased
repatriation

of all coloured immigrants,

their descendants
and dependents from Britain

to their lands
of ethnic origin.

- And if they don't go?
- They're going to go.

It was a high-tension
political time.

We wanted to be a band
that stood for something.

It was important
for us as a band

that we had a message

and it was communicated
through our music.

Peace and love
is an important thing

and it is lost sight of,
unfortunately.

Britain's uncivilised?

Indeed, in terms
of human relationships,

when I talk
about civilisation,

I'm not talking about
the technology of your cars,

I'm talking about mankind

respecting
the interests of mankind.

Cymande came on the scene
with something fresh.

It came
with something original

and it came with something
from the Windrush generation,

if you like.

No apologies.

Yes, I am a racist. And why?

Who's made me a racist?

Every dirty, stinking councillor
who sticks up for the nigger.

I'll stand by my words

'cause I don't like
these people and never will.

It's my childhood
as a Black Briton.

People saying, "Nigger,
pull the trigger, bang, bang,"

at me in the street.

And Cymande
addressed all of that.

Politically and culturally,
I feel a sense of pride

because they were ready
to stand up and be counted

and say, "Well, this is
who we are."

In the same way that
the Englishman has believed

that he had a right
to go out and civilise Africa,

I believe that we are here

to teach you again
how to be human.

In those days the gigs were

in places like Ronnie Scott's
Upstairs, 100 Club.

Various other little venues.

We even did some work

in men's clubs
up in the North,

which was quite an experience.

But then,
after a couple of years,

the next level was then to start
pursuing a recording gig.

Getting through as a band
in the music business

was enormously difficult.

You're coming up at all times
against a wall.

There was a barrier
against Black music.

They'd point to some
commercial artist or whatever

and say, "You know, what about
doing something more like this?"

You and I would
have heard them

refer to Black music
as "jungle music".

This is not
what our record company...

sells.

We were importing Black
American groups all the time,

but we didn't embrace
Black British talent.

You don't really think
about the golden era

of Black British music

because we weren't allowed
one, to be honest.

- This is it.
- This is it.

We're going to be here.

Uh-huh.

I want to go in there and say,
"Hey, we used to record here."

They'll call
the police on you.

"Get out of here!"

Had we not met John Schroeder,

the music itself would not have
had the exposure that it did.

Just by chance

I was going down
to listen to another band.

The band I was going to see
weren't there.

But there was
all this noise going on.

I pushed on the doors, it was
packed with all these people

who were bopping around
to this music.

And I couldn't see where the
music was coming from.

All I knew is
that the rhythms...

that I was hearing
were incredibly infectious.

And I thought,
"I like what I hear,

I'm going to try something in
the studio with them."

John wanted to capture
the music as it was.

What he heard the first time
he'd listened to the band,

he wanted it exactly like that
reproduced on vinyl.

If you listen closely,
it's not clinical.

It's live. We were having fun.

It was like a dream,
you know what I mean?

I just did it.

I can't recollect the memory.

I didn't realise

that I would have to put this
again in focus

by telling you about it, so...

Actually, I don't remember
anything about it.

There were
a lot of people involved

in the making of our music.

Then we were on the road.

Ray King
was our main vocalist.

He couldn't continue recording
so we brought Joey Dee in.

Joey was an exceptionally
good singer.

He performed
on most of the tracks.

Then after he went
his own way,

Jimmy Lindsay sang.

I was very close to a guy
called Marvin Schlacter

who had a label called Janus
in the States.

Marvin said to me,
"What are you doing, John?"

I said, "Well, I've got this
band called Cymande.

I said, "I've got this
cassette."

He said, "Well, leave it with
me." I said, "Okay."

And that was the start of it all.
He went bananas about it.

The music
was released in America.

And... zoom.

"The Message" got
an incredible reaction

from this college movement

and then it got on
the national charts.

I said, "You've got
an American manager now

I fixed up for you."

"What?"

I said, "You're going to the
States." "What?"

They got really scared
about going to America.

Got in trouble with the wives,
you know.

What?

They take us
out of the Brixton

to John F. Kennedy...

The limousine... whoa!

Say no more, eh?

The first gig we did

they got us supporting Al Green
at Al Green concerts.

At that time, Al was
at the height of his power.

We were playing in stadiums
with 40,000 people.

That was
an eye-opening experience.

The place looked loud
and brash and everybody's...

uninhibited.

People just expressed themselves

in a way that
you didn't find in the UK.

You know how rhythmic Cymande is
with all their percussion,

half the bloody audience
were up on the table...

Getting spoons and forks
and cup.

Banging the bloody tables.

There's all this rhythm
going on in the whole place.

It was absolutely amazing.

It was just incredible.

People reacting
to what we were doing

and giving us half a chance.

We hadn't seen anything
like that before.

I'll never forget doing
a week in the Apollo

with Jerry Butler.

I adored him
when we were young.

Now you're on stage
with him in the Apollo.

When we finished, he was there
waiting to shake our hands.

He appreciated
what we were doing.

Yeah, man. That was good.

That was a fantastic experience

because of the significance
of the Apollo

in terms of the history
of American Black music.

And then we made another album
which was recorded in Chicago.

So they just wrote the material

while they were basically
on tour.

Yeah. They were very prolific
in those days.

It was the stuff
that you heard about

that happens to other people.

But now it's happening to you.

We were living it.

We were living it.
It was amazing.

Having reached that level,
played to that kind of crowd,

and having your music
appreciated in that way,

and then returning to the UK,

and a kind
of reality striking home...

We were supporting Al Green.

Al Green was massive.

And you come back over here
and you try and get a gig,

and nobody still wanted to know.

Exposure was not
just about gigs.

Exposure is also
about where you play

and TV appearances.

You needed to be
on television.

But we never got there.

The people at the time
who controlled those things

didn't want West Indians
out of Brixton.

The producers maybe had
no incentive or...

no sanction,

or no penalty,

for not doing
what they are paid to do

with my license money.

Why don't I see more of me
on the TV?

It's prejudice.

We would have represented
a huge part of the population,

and not being allowed to move
on through that ceiling hurts.

It feels as though no one
was really listening.

To me they were
the British Black super group

that never ever happened.

We were on the road
for four years.

By that time
we'd done three albums.

We were just
beaten down by the system.

It got to this point
and it just stopped.

# Lord it gets harder

# These time, these times are changing

# Faster than before

# No love has been displayed out here

We'd put a lot of work in,
and at the end of it,

there was no reward
in terms of finances.

And you couldn't keep
going like that forever.

# Boy I think it�s strange

# These time,
these times are changing...

It was, I wouldn't say
difficult to deal with,

it was more not acceptable.

We took the decision
at that time

that maybe a break
might be a good idea.

You know, we'd come back to it
and pursue it later.

So we... split.

And that was it.

But you know,
you've got to be strong.

If I dwell on that...

I'm like, you know...

My energy, I need my energy
to go elsewhere so...

There was no point, really.
That's it. Done. Gone.

Move on.

I had to do something.

So I started a company up.
Electrical work.

And the saxophone...
I just put it down.

# Time has been lost in trying

# We have been left outside

# Looking at passions dying...
The Bronx was rough.

You had poverty
at an all-time high.

So, you know, people were
desperate.

# But it's alright,
we can still go on...

We were poor. We weren't even
poor, we was po'.

We couldn't even afford
the other O-R.

But to me,
it was all fun to me.

You know, it was the backdrop
of my youth.

It was some of the best times
in my life.

In the early stages, hip-hop
wasn't even called hip-hop.

We were just jamming

before it became
all the rhymes

and the intricate lyrics
that you see today.

It was just the DJ
and the music.

Before I got into hip-hop,

I was intrigued
looking at my elders

when they were having
the dance and disco affairs

in Manhattan.

They was always playing a wide
amount of different music

with various sounds.

And one of the
main ones was "Bra".

There was a new type
of music coming out.

Danceable funk, danceable R&B,
we used to call it.

It moved my feet, yes, sure.

It moved my soul.

72, going towards 73.

I'm basically playing in after-hour
places all across Harlem

and this record comes out
that was fabulously phat.

The first thing that happens
to you with "Bra" is...

you could be standing there and
this was like...

Du-du-du-du. Boom.

Once that hit you,
you stopped.

I don't care
if you ain't dancing,

if you're not partying at all.

When that drop hit you,

you are automatically
involved.

If you was angry,
you ain't angry no more.

If you was happy,
you are happier.

If you got a cowbell,

you're going to beat
the shit out of it.

Everybody heard that breakdown
and the bass line and was like,

"Whoa, what is this?"

It's so funky you want
to get up and dance.

Everybody's playing
their tambourines

on the dance floor,
and hitting whatever they can.

Then the drum comes in...
boom, boom, boom

That's causing
your body to just...

Oh. What? Oh.

I would turn it up so much

that people would be
just buzzing.

I'm seeing them dancing regular.

When the break hits,
I see them lose their mind.

Which made you have to be able
to bring it back.

Okay, you know what?

We want to play this song
not from the beginning

but mix it in the middle.

Hey, why not get two copies
so that I can extend it?

You can go
from one turntable to another.

You keep that sound going.

It was so good that, you know,
you just had to say,

"Let me bring that
right on back

one more time,
let you all hear it again.

I don't think
y'all feeling this yet.

Alright?"

"Yeah, we're feeling it now!"

This was a five-minute song

that used to actually play

for at least
the better part of...

ten to 15 minutes by itself.

That's the way you've got
to do that thing.

You gotta play it back
from the beginning.

Play that one part
on this side,

mix it on that side,

mix it back and forth.

Now we got something.

And that was like
the beginning stages of...

what we know right now
as hip-hop.

The break became
the whole record for us.

The 11 DJs who started disco.

We all played that.

No matter
how you slice it and dice it,

this will definitely go down
on the hip-hop archives

as one of the sacred greats.

If it wasn't
for songs like these,

there would have been
no hip-hop.

It was one
of the sacred greats of disco.

That record is still champion.

When it jumps on the track,

people who've never
heard it before...

they're moving.

People who'd heard it before
is like, "Oh!

That's my shit! Oh!"

Guys, there's Cymande. Yo!

# Listen brothers,

# this has got a lot to do with you

# And my sisters,

# it also does concern you too

The marchers
were demonstrating

against a shooting death
by police last Saturday.

The police were stretched
across the marchers' path,

determined to stop them.

I'm playing their records

and as I'm listening
to the lyrics,

it's resonate for the struggle

that was going on here
in the States in the 70s.

Violence flared.

Some of the crowd
running for safety.

We'd listen to Marvin
and other different sounds,

speaking on experience,

and they fit
right along with it.

Protest leaders say
they'll schedule other marches

because they are tired
of being sick and tired

of injustices against Blacks.

Everybody can identify

the same situation
they're dealing with.

# You've got to act now, act now

# Come around one day you'll see

# People will treat it as their destiny

Cymande was about
civil rights and human rights

and fighting against
the struggles that you faced.

The system was working
against Black people.

Prejudice in school,
prejudice in work.

And in particular prejudice in
the way that we were dealt with

by the police.

As a young person
in the 60s and 70s,

I had the police standing in my
face and standing on my toes

almost daring you
to do something

so that they would have
an excuse to arrest you.

I was driving early.

At the age of 17, 18
I was driving

so I was always being stopped.

A lot of young Black people
being criminalised easily.

A suitable representation
needed to be provided.

In my mind I'd always planned
to be a lawyer.

# Get your minds together,

# Doing what you know is right

It was a no-brainer in a way
to go to law.

# You must make a stand one day

After the band came off the road

we both started our families.

So your responsibility went
beyond the self now.

All the energies were directed

towards achieving
for ourselves

and in that way
being in the position

to provide the privileges

that we were deprived of
to some extent.

We didn't come off the road
to go on the dole.

We just found a different way

of contributing
to our community.

REPORTER:The Notting Hill carnival

became the scene of clashes

between police
and Black youths.

It's believed that
the trouble was the result

of an excessive
police presence

and aggravated racial tension.

In Brixton,
police cars on fire

after an attempt
to arrest a Black youth

in what they call
the Frontline area.

There's overturned cars
in the streets,

there's Molotov cocktails.

If something is not done
at the present time,

it's going to be
a highly explosive situation.

The spate of rioting

has been going on now
every night for over a week.

These current riots
were caused originally

by specific grievances
among Blacks.

I remember the riots
here in Brixton in 1981.

And I was a young
foot soldier here then.

The Notting Hill riots
in the 70s.

I was part of that,
I saw it firsthand...

what it's like when you
oppress a people.

At that time I was
very politically motivated.

I was an angry young man

and I was able to say
the things I wanted to say

and get my point across...

by the music I played.

While the hip-hop culture
was emerging

through the early to mid-80s
in the States,

we had our own music culture
renaissance going on here,

which I loosely dubbed
Rare Groove.

That scene grew
out of my radio show.

I never had
the dexterity and skills

of my American cousins
and brothers,

but what I did do was have
the knowledge.

I would be cracking
Cymande from the 70s.

I come from quite
a big family.

All my brothers were like DJs
or sound men, so...

Some of us knew.

I'd be the second generation
born and raised here.

I was looking for my identity.

As crate digger
and a lover for music,

Cymande must have fallen
from the sky for me.

# People need more time

Their thing was gritty,
was raw.

To me it was a real sound.

It's real, you know.

And in its creativity,
it just has depth.

The first band
that had come along

that tapped
all my cultural buttons.

Their music isn't frivolous,
it's not throw-away.

It's thought about,
it provokes reaction.

It's challenging,
it confronts you.

And it makes you dance.

People like myself and Norman
were the instigators

of literally
breaking the music.

That's what it was about,

because you had
that sort of platform

so sometimes
you could almost dictate

what's going
to be the cracker, you know.

# Look around the world
see people are dying...

The BBC weren't playing
Cymande records.

Cymande were never going
to be on Top of the Pops

in this country.

But there was a few of us
who loved it,

and dared to take it
onto the nation's dance floors

and try something with it.

And we got
a positive response to it.

It was like a frenzy.

You were just feeding the people
these kind of tunes,

giving birth, re-birth,
to this next generation.

This is an original
of a Cymande session.

Of "Zion I".

I think this is
the only one left out

of the original recording
session.

And I got it through a mutual
friend of John Schroeder.

And he wondered if I'd heard
about a band called Cyanide.

I said, "Are you sure
it's Cyanide?"

He said, "Yeah, yeah,
I'm pretty sure."

I said, "What's the spelling?"

He spelled it for me. I said,
"No, it's pronounced this way."

He said, "How do you know?"

I said, "I used to play with
them."

"I'm on that album."

To be honest,
I didn't have a plan.

I knew I wanted to play music.

And I was lucky enough

to move the people that were
willing to give me a chance...

to develop.

It never entered my mind

not to do anything
else but music.

After the band broke up,

Steve Scipio and I
started playing

with a South African band
called Jabula.

During that time was
when Mandela was in prison

and we did a lot
of anti-Apartheid concerts.

We were proud to know
that we contributed something

towards
the South African cause.

After Jabula folded
and Steve went to study law,

I got into Aswad.

Some time around 1986-87,

I got this call to do Paul
Simon and the Graceland tour.

Then I got together
with Courtney Pine

and we formed
the Jazz Warriors.

And I've been playing with
Jools Holland now since 1999.

I got to play with many
different famous people.

I used to pick the brains
of many of those big names.

Most of them just said,
"Practice!" You know?

"You want to learn to play?
Practice!"

"And listen to records
and practice."

So I'm still practicing.

I played with Tom Jones.

Robert Plant.
And Gary Moore.

And one time I was in a band
with Ben E. King.

Music makes me bubble.

And I don't mind whether
it's down The Dog And Duck,

playing
in front of five people

who are enjoying what I'm doing,

or playing in front
of 50,000 people.

Give me a gig!

I'll be 70 this year
and I'm still working.

And I've still got
a zest to work.

And the day I can't do it
physically any more,

I think I will suddenly become
a very old man.

That's what scares me.

More than anything else.

One thing is certain.

I had a good anchorage

because my wife
was always working.

She was the main breadwinner.

One woman said to my wife,
"You're mad

to have this guy talking
about his practicing

and you're going to work?"

I know I must be lucky
or blessed.

I'm still learning
to play music.

Everyday I learn
something else.

Still trying to play
the perfect note.

Who knows?
One day I might do that.

Cymande sits right there
as a soundtrack to my life.

It started with my mum.

Saturday morning,
cleaning up, making breakfast.

And that's what's
popping in the background.

Dancing in the living room.

We start doing robot
and all types of shit.

They were part
of my childhood.

I'm from the Bronx.

And I remember going
down to the projects

and seeing Jazzy Jay,
Afrika Bambaataa, Red Alert

playing "Bra".

The DJs would bring
the systems out.

And "Bra" was one of the joints
they were throwing on.

And as soon as the break part
came in,

everybody would just
go crazy.

Oh, man, the way it hit
the speakers. Oh.

I can picture it in my head
already.

The way the woofers would
kick just during that...

We never knew
that the band was from the UK.

We always thought
it was part of New York City.

It's like they were born
in New York City

'cause that's the music
that we loved.

Those are
the records we played.

Those are the songs
that we rocked.

So, there's nothing like
bringing what you grew up on

onto records
that you like nowadays

and reconfiguring the songs.

# Once again, it's time to buy
more soul

# A flavor you will savor
in your soul

#Wax is distributed
and then sold

# So watch it turn,
bring your next of kin soul

The thing for us,

doing the De La recording
sampling

was try to find a way
to make everything that we liked

mesh together.

Now, people may
not believe it, but...

If you looked
through these records,

you could find things like...

drum beat solo.

This concept of being able

to take bits and pieces
of other records.

We did that
and took it to the next level.

You know, we just did it
our way.

It's not actually stealing.

It's like bringing back
the old song,

making old songs new again,

making people like it,
you know, even more.

There was so much going on
in those records,

you're kind of in
a friendly competition

with the people
you're in this genre with.

So, you go back and you're
listening to the same records

and you go, "You missed that."
You know?

And we've been caught
out there the same way.

# Oh, yeah.

My mum was advising
records to sample.

I missed my window
with "The Message".

"Me & The Biz"
was, you know, a hit record.

And she's like, "I told you!"

"I told you! I told you!"

My mother does this clap,
"I told you!" You know?

And sure enough I was like,
"Yeah, you got that one."

# On and on and on
is how the beat goes

# So sell the British Walkers
and cut the afros

The sample for �Me & the Biz�
was something that I heard

Marley Marl play round the time
I was working on

my first album.

And he played this loop

and immediately I was like,
"What's that?"

"What's that?"

# Now this here jam is
like a special kind of song

# It's not too short,
but then again it's not too long

Something about their music
spoke to me

and it fit what my thinking was

and what I was trying to
do musically.

It sounded like incense
and psychedelic lights,

and dashikis and afros.

It was a vibe.

I don't know how they found
that vibe all the way in the UK,

but they found it

and it translated over here
for sure.

# And it wasn't a dream.
This was a nightmare.

# Mum is looking tired, Dad's feeling old

# They've been here thirty years,
still ain't seen no streets of gold

# Mum packed her cases
at the age of nineteen

# She was gonna go to England,
she would live like the Queen

It was you that turned
me onto Cymande.

I'd never heard
of them before.

I picked up
an album of theirs.

I felt that vibe,
that cultural something.

- It's like...
- Connection.

Yeah, this is me,
this is real.

# She worked her fingers to the bone
to make her life better

# Tried to be a citizen,
they wouldn't let her

I must have been thinking,
I need to write a song today.

And this is
that particular track.

And the title, it was calling
to me. �The Message�.

"What message, Andy,
what message?"

This is what happens
in these tracks.

Something about the music
makes you go,

"You've got to do
something serious."

Something about that track
just inspired me

to write that lyric
about that generation

and it just came out.

# When Dad was a lad,
he was bad.

# But check him out now,
he's kind of sad.

We were recording
the Killer Album,

which was the first Rap
Assassins album.

And this particular day

Carson came to me
and said,

"Anderson's got a track
about our parents.

Come and listen to it."

And instantly,

it was like,
"We've got to record this."

I remember when I heard it,
I was like, "Shit, Andy."

I was like, "Damn."

It's so honest
and personal and...

It wasn't angry,
it just laid out the facts.

You know, it was beautiful.
It's beautiful.

# Young gifted and Black,
they were a perfect team.

# But now they can't go back,
they lost it all for a dream.

# And it wasn't a dream.
This was a nightmare.

You can still groove
to that album.

It's still a groove.

Funk doesn't go out of style.

Funk don't go out of style, man.

Cymande popped up
a couple of times to me

over the years,
in the early 80s,

which is where I met Kermit.

We did a track, and it was the
first track he ever rapped on.

And it was on an album
called UK Electro.

On that album as well

there was a track
called "Real Time"

which also referenced Cymande.

�Real Time�, it�s bruv, isn�t it?

- Yeah.
- It is.

There you go.

- What year is the album?
- '84? 1984.

Wow!

So many of us have sampled
Cymande over the years.

They've been very influential
to house music as well.

It definitely introduced Cymande
to a new generation.

There was a connection
with the audience.

People may not
have known them,

but they knew those records.

They've come in from New York
to join us

'cause they're at number 20.

This is "Jack the Groove",
Raze.

# Jack the Groove.
Jack the Groove.

# Jack, Jack, Jack,
Jack the Groove.

# Jack the Groove.

# Jack, Jack, Jack,
Jack the Groove.

When you play their music,
you always get a warm feeling.

Their percussion,
the basslines.

They're truly perfect
for the dance floors.

They've inspired so many
musicians and producers

from different genres.

Hip-hop culture, rap culture.

House music, dance music.

Jungle, Drum and Bass.

If you wanna look back at the
DNA of all of these genres...

look no further.

Cymande's music is there.

But it's like great artists.

Sometimes their work
isn't appreciated

until long after they're gone.

I haven't slept yet, you know.

- I haven't slept.
- Really?

No, I've been up all night.

I was playing my keyboard.

I spend a lot of time
on the keyboard, you know.

The only thing that's bad
with Cymande

is when the band break up.

I was very,
very tore up about it.

To experience the warmth
of the crowd and the people.

You know what I mean?
How they relate to the music.

Especially when we went
to America. Wow!

The...

The way they...

you know, welcome us there, man.

Any musician
would be frustrated.

You played good music.

And you haven't fulfilled
your destiny.

But the Creator has put
everybody on the Earth

for a reason.

I ain�t finish...

what I was supposed
to be doing.

I'm learning.

Self-taught learning.

Yeah.

My connection with Cymande is

probably through hip-hop,
to be honest.

De La Soul sampled "Bra".

Whenever you find something new,
especially within hip-hop,

you just start digging.

You try to figure out,
"What's that sample?"

"Where's this from?" etc.

And then you go
to find the original.

Guys would actually go
through all your songs

and research
what has been used

and then they'll go even back
further down the rabbit hole

and realise that there's
more great music to discover.

Hip-hop for me was
pretty much responsible

for how I discovered
most of my favourite music.

All the great soul and funk
that I love,

and jazz I listen to now,

I know because they were
sampled by Tribe

or DJ Premier,

and Gang Starr.

Then I would either go

through the bargain bins
of the record shop

or go to some of the high-end
record conventions and find it.

When I first was learning
about sampling,

and how hip-hop took
from older music,

I wrote them all down,

I wrote all
the songs that I needed to find.

And I would carry
that list with me.

It was such a fiend
for East Coast hip-hop

because those were
the origins.

And I wanted to learn about it.

So, when I would take trips
back East with my family,

I would go record shopping.

And that's
when I discovered "Bra".

I don't remember Cymande.
I just remember "Bra".

And just I remember it started
with a C and a Y after it.

At that time
I always called them Cymonade.

Like lemonade. I didn't know
that it was Cymande.

My musical influences
were the New Birth...

A lot of old R&B stuff,
Cymonade...

Dyke and the Blazers.

The hunt is really fun.

I always enjoyed going
to the flea markets for hours,

going through the boxes
of dirty records

and finding a gem.

That is a striking...

striking artwork
that you would just pick up

if you're
a serious record collector.

That feeling of destiny

when you're looking
for something,

then you find it staring
back at you in a record shop.

That is the moment
that you live for.

Once I started listening
to their albums,

it was like,
"Wow! What is this?

Whatever it is,
it's incredible."

It felt like I had discovered
this cool new thing.

# Blessings of love

# Bringing you truth

You can hear a rock influence,

you can hear
a Latin influence.

You can hear funk in there.

There's so many different sounds.

You can hear also
those expansive sonic...

kind of soundscapes.

It doesn't really fit perfectly
into one category

which is why I like it.

# Like a bird
Floating in the sky

We start to realise all these
different ideas and dynamics

come together
and make something unique.

One side of you is like,
"Oh, man, it's so cool!"

The other part is like,
"Man, I feel dumb."

How long have I been asleep?

Now you're waking up
to the magic that is Cymande.

It's very non-polarising,

very pleasing, very inclusive.

Very for everybody music.

Since playing bass,

I tend to gravitate
towards basslines anyway.

Most of the time you feel it,
more than you hear it.

But I actually think
in Cymande's music...

it does speak.

The reason I focus so much
on bassline melodies

is because of Cymande
and Steve.

This is making me feel
something emotionally.

And that's why
I was so adamant

about sharing this band

with Wil-Dog from Ozomatli.

It's weird to think that us

in the early 90s

thought we were cool

'cause we were listening
to music from the 70s.

Like, "We're cool because we
know about some new shit!"

Like it's like 20 years later.

There was like a fraternity.
"Oh, okay, I can hang with you."

- It's the secret password.
- It really is.

When I would play Cymande,

I would see who in the room
would pay attention.

That little test to see
if people were on the level.

Nothing beats that feeling

of coming back
from a night out

or having a few people around
and it gets a bit late

and you're just like, "Hang on
till I blow your minds."

When you find
something like that,

the first thing you want to do
is share it or tell someone.

"Look at this awesome thing
that I discovered."

When my buddy played me
"Dove" for the first time,

I can still see it in my mind

'cause it was
that powerful of a moment.

So, when you hear
a life-changing song,

it's like a holy thing.

It's magic.

What a gift!

Wanting to turn people
onto Cymande

kept their legacy going.

And it was building and
building and getting stronger.

These records were discovered

but then they became
more than that

and joined a larger kind of
spiritual musical world

that was embraced
by so many people,

from skaters to jazz people,

to soul people,
to folk people.

African, Jamaican, English.

It doesn't matter. We could talk
to like a punk guy.

You'd be like, "Oh yeah, that's
Cymande, right? It's the Bible".

They'd be like, "Damn right!"
And I'm not a hip-hop kid.

Not many music
goes through those passages.

It doesn't have that length,
it doesn't have that phat.

I found them.

It was like me on my own
at a young age

discovering a music even
my parents didn't know about.

It was just the internet,
the explosion of the internet.

I heard Fugees
and then I heard Cymande.

Then finding them
on 3 Feet High and Rising.

And you'd click on those

and find your way
through more samples

until you were
on the same album

the sample came from

but it was stuff that hadn't
been listened to yet.

To me that's the newer music
in my head.

Like Cymande
is the more current stuff...

To me, that's the stuff I've got
a younger relationship with.

I felt it was a responsibility
to pass it on

and elevate their voice

and then hopefully
be an inspiration

to younger artists than me

to see that you can
speak your truth

and it can still be universal.

We're so saturated
with access to music now.

You can basically
listen to anything

from any era
any time you want.

Their music continues
to float to the top.

I'll still get messages
from folks who are like,

"Have you heard this?"

I'm like...

"No, I've never heard them
before.

That's wonderful. Thanks
for sending that to me."

There's that expression

"The arc of history
bends to the just".

All the really great shit

is actually going to be
discovered somehow

even if it wasn't discovered
at the time of its inception

or when they first
released it.

The recognition
from all of these people

who came to the party late

after the event,

that has given the band
a new lease of life.

The music was strong enough
not to die.

# Brothers on the slide.

# Working on the wrong side.

#

# You can't win
so you know you must lose.

# Which way we're going.

My eldest son is a DJ.

And he would ring me up
and say, "Dad, Dad,

I just heard 'Bra'
or 'The Message' in the car."

Often I would just be
doing a gig

and he'd be playing
Cymande tracks

while I'm loading
my gear in my car.

And I was like, "Yeah."

My chest is out like,
"Yeah. I'm proud of that."

It's something
that wouldn't just lie down.

Every once in a while
we'd hear something.

We started becoming aware

that something was
happening with our music.

A new interest.

We knew of the use
of Cymande's material

with sampling.

And it was nice to have
your sound and music

appreciated in that way.

It brought in some money also,

you know, which is never a bad
thing.

But the recognition
of the band

in terms of audience
and fan base,

that was a bit of a surprise.

We found out
that there are so much...

fans out there...

who want to hear this music.

I was not actively involved
in any way with music

from about the mid-80s.

For that period law took total
precedence over everything.

But what was happening
with the music

and the interest
in the music...

pushed us...

towards doing something that
we'd always wanted to do.

One of the most important things

is that we honour
what Cymande has done.

When we stopped
working in the 70s,

it felt unfinished.

We will have to see in my day.

Well, we're still alive,
first of all.

We were not suffering
from arthritis.

I always had it in my mind

that the band was
going to come back together.

So when it happened,
I wasn't surprised

because that was my intention.

I didn't know they would
have taken so long.

Yeah!

I met Pablo after 17 years,
at a church

and I saw this guy coming in.

I said, "What's happening,
Dred?"

"Hello."

And he's gone.
Didn't recognize me.

Someone told him that
Derek is inside there.

He said, "Is he?"

And then he came up to me,
you know, and said,

"Have you heard the news?

The guys are going to get
the band back together again."

I still wasn't interested.

I didn't play the saxophone
for 40 years.

I said, "What do you mean
you're not playing anymore?

That's what you're
supposed to do, man.

You ain't doing anything
else 'cause that's you."

He said he didn't
have an instrument.

I said, "Buy an instrument, man.

He start again."

He keeps on and on

and I'm retiring anyhow so...

It's something to do.

It wasn�t easy.

They say once you learn
to ride a bicycle

you never forget.

But obviously the physical side
of it had to be worked on.

One day we had
a long rehearsal.

And the next morning I woke up
and I looked in the mirror

and I was, "Oh."

Bloody hell, man!

You know, my face was swollen.

Well, I put the time in...

to get it together.

Someone said to me,

"Pretend you're
in the basement in Brixton.

Don't let it overpower you.

Just get on with it."

The very first show we did

was not what I expected.

Okay, let's go.

When we walked on,
I remember looking out there

and seeing all these kids.

Young people
who knew our music.

They knew it well.

And how excited they were

at seeing the band in action.

It's certainly
something I'm proud of.

It was a mind-blowing
experience.

I thought we'd have
some of the grannies...

and the granddads in there.

When you see the people
dancing in the aisle,

you're thinking, "Well, we're
getting something back here."

So you just keep going.

Please welcome to the stage...

the amazing, historical,

seminal group, Cymande!

Yeah!

I thought never in my life
would I see them.

And when you saw them play

and just the joy
and realisation for them

that "Hey, your music
wasn't forgotten.

Hey, your music is important.

You know, people are here to
show you

that they care about you
and they love you."

I didn't even think that
I would see you there

or like hit you up
at the Cymande...

I just...when I saw you,
I was like, "Oh, of course!"

That's exactly how it felt,
I was like,

"It makes perfect sense".

- And I never go out anymore.
- I don't either.

Wil-Dog
introduced me to his friend

as like "the guy that turned me
onto Cymande."

And I was like, you know, "That
was my job in the early '90s

here in LA to do that."

I haven't seen Wil in a while
and to just kind of remember,

"Oh, yeah, man. We got
the Cymande thing going on.

Like that secret password thing."

"Cool. He remembers.
He didn't let go of that."

That meant a lot, you know?

And everybody else.
Nobody lets go of Cymande.

That shit is forever.

Once you're introduced to it,

that relationship's with you
for life.

Those first times
you hear the things

that mean the most to you,

you remember the people
that you shared it with.

And I think we all have...

these memories of our favourite
times when that happened.

This music has forged important
friendships and relationships

in my life.

There was a connection that
we all shared with this music.

And you can now speak
this language of Cymande.

Thank you!

Bataclan!

Our hearts go out to you.

You know this is
"The Message".

Some time ago, "The Message"
was covered by a French artist.

MC Solaar in the house!

When the DJs
choose Cymande,

it was like a revolution
for the people.

Bouge De L�.

French people were totally
surprised by your music

because It was totally
different.

Bouge De L�.

The first time we hear this
"Bouge De L�,"

all the French,
Black, white, Arab,

everybody would buy hip-hop.

Bouge De L�.

Cymande's music
has been sampled a lot.

We like the fact that people
have found our music

inspirational in that way.

They rocked the place
since the beginning.

MC and other guys,
they have enabled us

to be introduced
to a wider youthful audience.

It's fantastic!

I want to say
"Thank you" to you

you know, because we represent
French rap,

bless and bless and bless

because French rap
didn't exist.

It's from MC Solaar
and this song "Bouge De L�".

Thank you!

Thank you so much!
Love French music.

Thank you, man!

Thank you, brother.

Having created something
40 years ago

that today is appreciated
by an entirely new generation,

it's a fantastic feeling.

It gives value and worth
to what you've done.

This is the Craig Charles'
Funk and Soul Show

on BBC Radio 6 Music.

Hold my calls.
I can't speak to anyone.

I have got the legends
who are Cymande in the studio.

How are you doing, guys?

Yeah, man. Great to be here.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

When everyone else was
listening to Pink Floyd

and Black Sabbath,

I was listening to these guys.

You, Sir, in the beanie hat,
who are you, what do you play?

Derek Gibbs.

Derek Gibbs? You're
a sax player, aren't you?

I try to.

For me it's better
than having Earth, Wind & Fire

walk into the studio
and start tuning up.

Bammi, I know you
from the Jazz Warriors,

Courtney Pine, Jools Holland.

What's it like getting
back together

and being on the road again?

Well, my wife thinks I'm
having a wonderful time.

Oh, man!
My mum is going to love this!

You understand you're
in my mother's collection.

When meeting Cymande,

I was like a kid
in a candy store.

You guys are here!

To have them disappear and
all of a sudden regroup again

and we are somewhat
the catalyst for it,

that's beautiful!

Oh!

So dope!

Dope!

Touch that. You touch that.

Please, touch that!

It's unbelievable that I got
you all in my dungeon right now.

Something really, really cool
happened to me earlier today.

I got the opportunity

to meet the first group
that I sampled.

The name of the group is
Cymande. Heard of them before?

If I played any part

in bringing light
back to the group,

if my record in any way
opened the door

for them to get
back into the game,

I'm happy to be
a part of that history

and I'm glad that I was able
to play a role

in Cymande's bringing it back

and doing it again

and hitting the scene
and, 70 years old or not,

put their thing down,
put their groove down.

Good night. God bless you!

Thank you!

Thank you, MC Solaar!

Good night! God bless you!

Thanks for coming in.

You are heroes of mine,

the audience
on my show, anyway,

we all absolutely love you
and good luck.

Thank you.

I'm not at 100 today.

I'm about...

seventy-five.

I was an asthmatic child
from birth.

If I cough...

they collapse.
If I sneeze, they collapse.

So fragile, them lungs.

You know, so...

It's a terrible thing...

breathing, you know.

But...

You know, you have
to go through that barrier.

Mind over matter.

We did one gig

where Pablo actually got
out of his hospital bed

to come and play
with the band.

That's his hospital tag
that he still got on.

And I'm thinking when we got
back from that,

he went back into hospital.

Yeah.

No, it's not going
to stop beating.

It's trying to.

But I'm fighting.

I'm fighting from when
I was born, you know?

It's a lot...

It's a lot of years.

A lot of years.

When we put the band
back together

after a long period of time,

there was a security
in doing it at the core.

But we needed
other musicians to assist us.

- You want me to sign on this?
- Well, yeah, because...

the value's going to increase
by a substantial amount

with your signature on it.

This is one of the first
records I've bought.

So, a big influence in my life
at the time, you know,

and it encouraged me
to go on making music.

And then years later,

I got a call to be
part of the crew.

What do you reckon?
Double bubble?

We've been lucky
in getting people

who have had their own careers

and built
their own reputations

as musicians.

# I already got you back.

# I don't even know your name.

I was born in Brixton
and Crawshay Road...

That was the place
that Cymande rehearsed.

And my memories
is running home from school,

you could hear the music
from outside anyway,

and I'd be down there
in the basement

just sitting uninvited.

But I just sat on that step...

and be marvelled,

'cause it was something else.

This is kind of a
45th anniversary reunion.

We're not from America.

A lot of people
thought we were,

but we are from Balham
and Brixton.

Bless, this is Cymande.

It's a shame that they haven't
been recognised

as much as other great bands,

but I think the fact that
we're talking about them today

speaks volumes.

Just think of all the billions
of bands

that are not being
talked about.

People like Cymande give me
hope that maybe one day

I can reach more people
and become relevant

to a generation
that wasn't there

when I was making music.

It's hard to fathom
that could be a possibility.

And I probably never
would have thought

it was a possibility
before them.

I always joke, maybe
1,000 years from now,

some kid will find some MP3
with one of my songs on it.

So I could feel like I failed,

but maybe 1,000 years from now

I'll be a huge success.

That's how limitless music is.

The energy signals
the appreciation of the music.

And that appreciation,

it doesn't matter
what era it comes in,

it's wonderful to have it.

But more importantly,

it says, "It doesn't matter
what the music industry does,

give the people the chance

and they'll tell you
what they want."

One of the ways to recognise

that we're now
a multiracial society,

is to understand each other
through our arts.

In the past, Britain has
absorbed many other cultures.

Now we're trying
to absorb the gifts

that minorities
like the West Indians

have to offer today.

To reject them now only
impoverishes ourselves.

It frustrates
those who want to give,

those who perhaps feel
the barrier's against you.

All it asks,
like the people who make it,

is the chance to be heard,
understood and enjoyed.

Our story is of success.

You achieved your successes
despite that disadvantage.

I mean, that really is
what the success is about.

The way it's happened for them
is the best way.

We show that we can
do these things

and we can stick to something.

We don't have to change
to become like everybody else.

That's what I think we
represent.

I'm glad they stuck
to their guns, man,

delivering music

truly from their spirit,
their souls.

And it's going to keep
transcending generations...

because, yes, it is timeless.

The world needs
to know this band.

They changed music for me.

And if you hear them, they'll
change it for you as well.

I guarantee it.

It's not sinking in.

I suppose I'm like that
as a person anyway.

But probably years later,

I'll probably start
thinking, "Oh, right.

I did all that. Wow!"

It's been a long journey,

but it's not a journey we want
to see end right now.

When you see Cymande,

the reincarnation
of what that is,

it's another breath.

And that's how much life
the music has.

It can't end, it won't stop.

Cymande is
on a different dimension now,

but it still has that sound.

I think
the band's going places.

Who knows?

It's quite possible that another
hit might come out of it.

We don't rule out anything.

To be continued.

Yeah.

Good night.
God bless you! Thank you!

Thank you!

Good night, brother.

- Excellent, Sir.
- God bless you.

Absolutely excellent.

Thank you.

The people, the people.

It's all about the people.

Power to the people,
my brother.

The people tell you
what it's all about.

Don't worry about me.

It's up to the fans.

They know what's going down.

They dictate.

They know
what they want to know

what they want to hear.

Thank you, my brother,
thank you.

- Well done, Pablo.
- Great stuff.

- Great stuff.
- Power to the people, man.

And right on.